Abstract：Fruit industry has become one of the main components of agriculture in Beijing hillslope orchard. However, soil loss at hillslope orchards is serious due to the steep slopes and low vegetation coverage. Narrow terrace is one of the major soil conservation measures in such hillslope orchards. It is important to quantitatively investigate soil erosion for a sustainable development of environment and economy for these hillslope orchards. The objective of this study is to estimate the soil erosion rate using 137Cs method in such area. Soil samples were collected from three counties: Changping (no conservation practice), Huairou and Miyun (both with narrow terraces), and the 137Cs inventory was measured to estimate soil erosion rate. The result indicated that the erosion rates of hillslope orchards in Changping, Huairou and Miyun were 5311, 2494 and 1970t/(km2·a), respectively. The narrow terraces have reduced the soil loss by 50%, but cannot fully play its application effects of soil and water conservation because of disrepair.
2013, Vol. 11 
