Soil and water losses due to agricultural mismanagement are high and non-sustainable in many orchards. An experiment was set up with rainfall simulation at 78 mm h–1 over 1 hour on 20 paired plots of 2 m2 (bare and straw covered) in new persimmon plantations in Eastern Spain. Effects of straw cover on the control of soil and water losses were assessed. An addition of 60% straw cover (75 g m–2) resulted in delayed ponding and runoff generation and consequently reduced water losses from 60% to 13% of total rainfall. The straw cover reduced raindrop impact and thus sediment detachment from 1014 to 47 g plot–1 h–1. The erosion rate was reduced from 5.1 to 0.2 Mg ha–1 h–1. The straw mulch was found to be extremely efficient in reducing soil erosion rates.

The purpose of this study was to assess how terracing affected overland flow and associated sediment losses, at the micro-plot scale (0.25 m²), in recently burnt stands of the two principal forest types in north-central Portugal, i.e. mono-specific stands of Maritime Pine and Eucalypt. Terracing is an increasingly common practice of slope engineering in the study region but its impacts on runoff and erosion are poorly studied. Non-terraced plots at the Eucalypt and the Pine site revealed similar median runoff coefficients (rc: 20-30%) as well as comparable median sediment losses (15-25 g m^-2) during the first seven months following wildfire. During the ensuing, slightly wetter 18-month period, however, non-terraced plots at the Pine site lost noticeably more sediments (in median, 90 vs. 18 g m^-2), in spite the runoff response had remained basically the same (median rc: 33 vs. 28%). By contrast, terraced plots at the same Pine site lost hugely more sediments (in median, 1,200 g m^-2) during this 18-month period. Terraced plots at the Eucalypt site even lost three times more sediments (in median, 3,600 g m^-2). Ground cover and resistance to shear stress seemed to be key factors in the observed/inferred impacts of terracing.