Premium
Effects of cultivation and grass on surface runoff
Author(s) -
Dragoun Frank J.
Publication year - 1969
Publication title -
water resources research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.863
H-Index - 217
eISSN - 1944-7973
pISSN - 0043-1397
DOI - 10.1029/wr005i005p01078
Subject(s) - surface runoff , environmental science , perennial plant , acre , hydrology (agriculture) , vegetation (pathology) , agronomy , agroforestry , ecology , geology , biology , medicine , geotechnical engineering , pathology
Results of research show the effect of drastic changes in land use on surface runoff from 4‐acre watersheds near Hastings, Nebraska. Surface runoff was significantly reduced two years after converting marginal cultivated fields to perennial grass and was equivalent to runoff from native meadow after the third year. Conversely runoff increased greatly the first year after native meadow was placed in cultivation. The significance of these results is evident in the conversion of more than a million acres of marginal cropland to permanent vegetation in the Great Plains and in the proposed conversion of many more acres.