Desho and Elephant Grass Strips for Soil Erosion Control in Sankura District, South Central Ethiopia

Abstract

The decline of soil fertility mainly through soil erosion constrained the agricultural productivity in south-central Ethiopia. The present study has been initiated to answer the question of which grass strips control the soil and nutrient losses when integrated with wheat. Based on the severity of soil erosion,three treatments namely Desho, Elephant, and control were compared for consecutive two years. The result implies that Desho grass controls soil loss by 6.5% and Elephant grass by 21.3% relative to control. The soil nutrient result also shows a similar trend, Elephant and Desho grass save N losses by 66.8% and 11.2% relative to control respectively. Planting Desho and Elephant grasses in a strip could save P losses by 17.2% and 27.4% relative to control respectively, which shows their ability to control soil and nutrient losses when planted in strips with annual crops. However, both are effective in controlling soil losses when planted in strips with annual crops. Due to their biomass production potential, they could also be an option to mitigate the fodder shortage during dry periods. Therefore, for sustainable soil and water conservation Desho and Elephant grasses should be widely scaled up with annual crops in Sankura woreda and similar agroecologiesin the region by considering their slope ranges where soil erosion is expected to be severing.