EFFECT OF NARROW GRASS STRIPS ON CONSERVATION RESERVE LAND CONVERTED TO CROPLAND

This rainulator study provided information about soil loss rates occurring following the conversion of grassland plots to crop production. Simulated rainfall (64 mm/h) was applied for two hours to bare fallow, conventionaltill, and no-till plots (with and without grass strips located across the bottom of plots) during the summers of 1993, 1994, and 1995. The plots were cultivated in 1971, which was the last cultivation preceding this study’s beginning. The plots had been in continuous grass since 1973 except in 1985 when no-till soybeans were grown on them and in 1986 when notill grain sorghum was grown. This three-year study showed that grass strips were effective in trapping sediment above the strips. The conventional-till plots with grass strips averaged 42, 66, and 72% less soil loss in 1993, 1994, and 1995, respectively, than that from conventional-till plots without grass strips. The no-till plots with the grass strips averaged 20, 64, and 57% less soil loss in 1993, 1994, and 1995, respectively, than from the no-till plots without grass strips. The bare fallow plots with grass strips averaged 65, 84, and 88% less soil loss in 1993, 1994, and 1995, respectively, than the bare fallow plots without the grass strips. The conventional-till plots without grass strips had 31, 83, and 70% less soil loss in 1993, 1994, and 1995, respectively, than bare fallow plots without grass strips. The no-till plots without grass strips had 95, 97, and 99% less soil loss, respectively, than bare fallow plots without grass strips.