Effect of mulching with vegetative residues on soil water erosion and water balance in an oxisol cropped by cassava in east cameroon

Soil water erosion is a major agricultural concern in tropical Africa with high precipitation and low soil fertility where Oxisols are generally distributed. A field experiment was conducted in east Cameroon during the rainy season in 2013 to investigate the effects of surface mulching with the residues of Imperata cylindrica on soil losses and surface runoff water generation in a cassava cropland on an Oxisol. Three treatments were established using two small plots for each treatment: bare plot (BA), cassava plot (CA) and cassava with mulch plot (CM). Soil loss and surface runoff water were measured, and water budgets of rainfall, surface runoff and soil moisture within rainfall events were measured in all treatment plots. Runoff coefficients in all treatment plots were suppressed below 8·0% because the large volume of large pores of surface soil of Oxisols contributed to the high drainage capacity over a rainy season even under wet soil moisture conditions. Total soil loss in CM was decreased by 49% compared with that in BA and CA, despite there not being a large difference in runoff water among treatments. These results suggest that surface mulching with the residues of I. cylindrica can substantially suppress soil losses caused by particle detachment by raindrops, while it maintain soil surface with originally high permeability in cassava croplands on Oxisols. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.