[en] Soils of the loess belt of Western Europe are intensively cropped and particularly prone to runoff and soil erosion, especially when planted with row crops such as maize or potatoes, characterized by a low soil cover during erosive spring storms. In this context, micro-basin tillage techniques could help mitigate these risks while being fairly easy to integrate into conventional cropping systems, yet very few studies have investigated the effectiveness of this technique in a maize crop. Soil pitting was therefore tested across 14 site*years of field trials in Belgium by a newly designed roller adapted to a seeding unit forming small depressions in-between maize rows. Runoff and surface losses of sediments and pesticides were measured on soil pitted plots under natural rainfall and compared with conventionally tilled plots. Seasonal runoff and erosion rates were reduced on average by 69% and 83%, respectively, following soil pitting. Median curve number (CN) values calibrated (λ = 0.05) on this dataset are 68 for the control, and 63 for the soil pitting treatment. Analysis of individual rainfall event data reveals that the mitigation effect remains consistent throughout the season, and is even slightly higher for highly erosive rainfall events than for light events. Whereas herbicide concentrations, and hence in-situ ecotoxicity risk indicators, were similar between control and soil pitted treatments at the experimental plot scale, at larger scales the environmental impact on water bodies would be mitigated by soil pitting thanks to the reduction in absolute runoff and soil loss. Future research should further investigate the impacts of soil pitting on crop yields under a broad range of rainfall conditions.
Research center :
TERRA Research Centre. Echanges Eau - Sol - Plantes - ULiège [BE]
We thank CIPF engineers and technicians for implementation and monitoring of the agronomic trials. We are grateful to the farmers who hosted these trials on their fields. We also thank the Service Public de Wallonie for financing the Eruistop and Intell'eau projects, which allowed for the data collection and analysis, respectively.
Belis, J., 2018. Etude du combiné de semis ERuiStop dans la lutte contre l’érosion en culture de maïs (MSc thesis). Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-La-Neuve.
Boardman, J., Poesen, J., 2006. Soil Erosion in Europe. Wiley–Blackwell, Chichester, England.
Bresson, É., Laprise, R., Paquin, D., Thériault, J.M., de Elía, R., Evaluating the ability of CRCM5 to simulate mixed precipitation. Atmos. Ocean 55 (2017), 79–93, 10.1080/07055900.2017.1310084.
Casamitjana, M., D'Haene, K., Loaiza Usuga, J.C., Gabriels, D., De Neve, S., 2009. Influence of tillage systems on soil structural properties, in: No-Till Farming: Effects on Soil, Pros and Cons and Potential. Nova Science Publishers.
CIPF (Centre indépendant de promotion fourragère), Unpublished results. Evaluation de l'efficacité de techniques innovantes de préparation du sol dans la lutte contre le ruissellement et l’érosion en culture de maïs sur terres en pente, Rapports ERUISTOP (2012 – 2017). Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium.
CIPF asbl, 2023. CIPF - Centre indépendant de promotion fourragère. URL 〈https://cipf.be/fr〉 (accessed 3.22.23).
Cooper, C.M., Biological effects of agriculturally derived surface water pollutants on aquatic systems—a review. J. Environ. Qual. 22 (1993), 402–408, 10.2134/jeq1993.00472425002200030003x.
CRA-W, 2022. Réseau pameseb. 〈https://agromet.be/fr/reseau-pameseb/〉 (accessed 21 October 2022).
Dabney, S.M., Moore, M.T., Locke, M.A., Integrated management of in-field, edge-of-field, and after-field buffers1. J. Am. Water Resour. Assoc. 42 (2006), 15–24, 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2006.tb03819.x.
Darly, S., Torre, A., Olivier, C., 2020. Smart land use for smart rural development: The case of rural and peri-urban regions in Europe, in: Torre, A., Corsi, S., Steiner, M., Wallet, F., Westlund, H., Smart Development for Rural Areas. Routledge, London.
European Commission, 1997. Council Directive 97/57/EC of 22 September 1997 establishing Annex VI to Directive 91/414/EEC concerning the placing of plant protection products on the market, OJ L.
European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), Conclusion on the peer review of the pesticide risk assessment of the active substance terbuthylazine. EFSA J., 9, 2011, 1969, 10.2903/j.efsa.2011.1969.
European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), Peer review of the pesticide risk assessment of the active substance mesotrione. EFSA J., 14, 2016, 4419, 10.2903/j.efsa.2016.4419.
Evrard, O., Bielders, C.L., Vandaele, K., van Wesemael, B., Spatial and temporal variation of muddy floods in central Belgium, off-site impacts and potential control measures. Catena 70 (2007), 443–454, 10.1016/j.catena.2006.11.011.
Farr, T.G., Rosen, P.A., Caro, E., Crippen, R., Duren, R., Hensley, S., Kobrick, M., Paller, M., Rodriguez, E., Roth, L., Seal, D., Shaffer, S., Shimada, J., Umland, J., Werner, M., Oskin, M., Burbank, D., Alsdorf, D., The shuttle radar topography mission. Rev. Geophys., 45, 2007, 10.1029/2005RG000183.
European Commission, 2003. Review report for the active substance flufenacet (No. 7469/VI/98-Final). European Commission Health & Consumer Protection Directorate E1 Plant health.
Gentile, A.R., Barceló-Cordón, S., Van Liedekerke, M., 2009. Soil country analyses: Belgium (No. EUR 23959 EN/2–2009), JRC Scientific and Technical Reports. European Commission. Joint Research Centre. Institute for Environment and Sustainability, LU.
Gillijns, K., Govers, G., Poesen, J., Mathijs, E., Bielders, C., 2005. Erosion des sols en Belgique, état de la question (No. Cahier n°10). KINT - IRGT, Bruxelles.
Gordon, R.J., VanderZaag, A.C., Dekker, P.A., De Haan, R., Madani, A., Impact of modified tillage on runoff and nutrient loads from potato fields in Prince Edward Island. Agric. Water Manag. 98 (2011), 1782–1788, 10.1016/j.agwat.2011.07.007.
Harrison, X.A., Donaldson, L., Correa-Cano, M.E., Evans, J., Fisher, D.N., Goodwin, C.E.D., Robinson, B.S., Hodgson, D.J., Inger, R., A brief introduction to mixed effects modelling and multi-model inference in ecology. PeerJ, 6, 2018, e4794, 10.7717/peerj.4794.
Hawkins, R.H., Ward, T.J., Woodward, D.E., Mullem, J.A.V., 2009. Curve Number Hydrology: State of the Practice. American Society of Civil Engineers, Reston.
Heikkinen, J., Ketoja, E., Nuutinen, V., Regina, K., Declining trend of carbon in Finnish cropland soils in 1974-2009. Glob. Change Biol. 19 (2013), 1456–1469, 10.1111/gcb.12137.
Hitzfeld, K.L., Müller, A., Knillmann, S., Weisner, O., Pickl, C., Liess, M., Vormeier, P., Liebmann, L., Reemtsma, T., 2022. small streams - big problems. German event-driven monitoring reveals alarming pesticide pollution and regulatory deficiencies. Presented at the International Interdisciplinary Conference on Land Use and Water Quality. Agriculture and the Environment, Maastricht, the Netherlands.
Huber, A., Bach, M., Frede, H.G., Pollution of surface waters with pesticides in Germany: modeling non-point source inputs. Agric. Ecosyst. Environ. 80 (2000), 191–204, 10.1016/S0167-8809(00)00145-6.
Jones, O.R., Baumhardt, R.L., Furrow dikes. Trimble, S.W., (eds.) Encyclopedia of Water Science, 2007, Marcel Dekker, New York, 317–320.
Jones, O.R., Clark, R.N., Effects of furrow dikes on water conservation and dryland crop yields. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 51 (1987), 1307–1314, 10.2136/sssaj1987.03615995005100050039x.
Jones, R.J.A., Spoor, G., Thomasson, A.J., Vulnerability of subsoils in Europe to compaction: a preliminary analysis. Soil Tillage Res 73 (2003), 131–143, 10.1016/S0167-1987(03)00106-5.
Karlsson, A.S., Lesch, M., Weihermüller, L., Thiele, B., Disko, U., Hofmann, D., Vereecken, H., Spielvogel, S., Pesticide contamination of the upper Elbe River and an adjacent floodplain area. J. Soils Sediment. 20 (2020), 2067–2081, 10.1007/s11368-020-02571-w.
Koricheva, J., Gurevitch, J., Mengersen, K., 2013. Handbook of meta-analysis in ecology and evolution, Princeton University Press. ed. Princeton, New Jersey. Woodstock, Oxfordshire.
Lahmar, R., Adoption of conservation agriculture in Europe. Land Use Policy 27 (2010), 4–10, 10.1016/j.landusepol.2008.02.001.
Laloy, E., Bielders, C.L., Plot scale continuous modelling of runoff in a maize cropping system with dynamic soil surface properties. J. Hydrol. 349 (2008), 455–469, 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2007.11.033.
Laloy, E., Bielders, C.L., Effect of intercropping period management on runoff and erosion in a maize cropping system. J. Environ. Qual. 39 (2010), 1001–1008, 10.2134/jeq2009.0239.
Land, M., Granéli, W., Grimvall, A., Hoffmann, C.C., Mitsch, W.J., Tonderski, K.S., Verhoeven, J.T.A., How effective are created or restored freshwater wetlands for nitrogen and phosphorus removal? A systematic review. Environ. Evid., 5, 2016, 9, 10.1186/s13750-016-0060-0.
Ling, L., Yusop, Z., 2014. A micro focus with macro impact: Exploration of initial abstraction coefficient ratio (λ) in Soil Conservation Curve Number (CN) methodology, in: IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science. Presented at the 8th International Symposium of the Digital Earth (ISDE8), p. 012121. https://doi.org/10.1088/1755–1315/18/1/012121.
Liu, Y., Xin, Y., Xie, Y., Wang, W., Effects of slope and rainfall intensity on runoff and soil erosion from furrow diking under simulated rainfall. Catena 177 (2019), 92–100, 10.1016/j.catena.2019.02.004.
Maetens, W., Poesen, J., Vanmaercke, M., How effective are soil conservation techniques in reducing plot runoff and soil loss in Europe and the Mediterranean?. Earth-Sci. Rev. 115 (2012), 21–36, 10.1016/j.earscirev.2012.08.003.
Makowski, D., Piraux, F., Brun, F., 2019. From Experimental Network to Meta-analysis. Methods and Applications with R for Agronomic and Environmental Sciences, Quae. ed. Springer, Versailles, France.
Martin, P., 2009. De la trajectoire d’états des écosystèmes cultivés aux espaces territorialisés dynamiques: contribution à la prise en compte de la dimension temporelle dans une agronomie des territoires (PhD thesis). Institut national polytechnique de Toulouse, Paris.
Martin, P., Ouvry, J.F., Bockstaller, C., Adaptation of the curve number approach to runoff estimation for loamy soils over a growing season for winter wheat: Comparison with the STREAM approach: CN APPROACH TO RUNOFF ESTIMATION IN AN AGRICULTURAL CONTEXT. Land Degrad. Dev. 21 (2010), 376–387, 10.1002/ldr.957.
Martinez, M.N., Bartholomew, M.J., What does it “mean”? A review of interpreting and calculating different types of means and standard deviations. Pharmaceutics, 9, 2017, 14, 10.3390/pharmaceutics9020014.
Mhazo, N., Chivenge, P., Chaplot, V., Tillage impact on soil erosion by water: discrepancies due to climate and soil characteristics. Agric. Ecosyst. Environ. 230 (2016), 231–241, 10.1016/j.agee.2016.04.033.
Momm, H.G., Bingner, R.L., Yuan, Y., Locke, M.A., Wells, R.R., Spatial characterization of riparian buffer effects on sediment loads from watershed systems. J. Environ. Qual. 43 (2014), 1736–1753, 10.2134/jeq2013.10.0413.
Monnier, G., Boiffin, J., 1985. Effect of the agricultural use of soils on water erosion: the case of cropping systems in western Europe. Presented at the Impact of change of land use and management. Atelier CEE, Cesena, Italy.
Nearing, M.A., Govers, G., Norton, L.D., Variability in soil erosion data from replicated plots. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 63 (1999), 1829–1835, 10.2136/sssaj1999.6361829x.
Oberpriller, J., de Souza Leite, M., Pichler, M., Fixed or random? On the reliability of mixed-effects models for a small number of levels in grouping variables. Ecol. Evol., 12, 2022, e9062, 10.1002/ece3.9062.
Olivier, C., Goffart, J.-P., Baets, D., Xanthoulis, D., Fonder, N., Lognay, G., Barthélémy, J.-P., Lebrun, P., Use of micro-dams in potato furrows to reduce erosion and runoff and minimise surface water contamination through pesticides. Commun. Agric. Appl. Biol. 79 (2014), 513–524.
Panagos, P., Meusburger, K., Ballabio, C., Borrelli, P., Alewell, C., Soil erodibility in Europe: a high-resolution dataset based on LUCAS. Sci. Total Environ. 479–480 (2014), 189–200, 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2014.02.010.
Panagos, P., Borrelli, P., Spinoni, J., Ballabio, C., Meusburger, K., Beguería, S., Klik, A., Michaelides, S., Petan, S., Hrabalíková, M., Olsen, P., Aalto, J., Lakatos, M., Rymszewicz, A., Dumitrescu, A., Perčec Tadić, M., Diodato, N., Kostalova, J., Rousseva, S., Banasik, K., Alewell, C., Monthly rainfall erosivity: conversion factors for different time resolutions and regional assessments. Water, 8, 2016, 119, 10.3390/w8040119.
Panagos, P., Ballabio, C., Meusburger, K., Spinoni, J., Alewell, C., Borrelli, P., Towards estimates of future rainfall erosivity in Europe based on REDES and WorldClim datasets. J. Hydrol. 548 (2017), 251–262, 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2017.03.006.
Panagos, P., Ballabio, C., Poesen, J., Lugato, E., Scarpa, S., Montanarella, L., Borrelli, P., A soil erosion indicator for supporting agricultural, environmental and climate policies in the European Union. Remote Sens., 12, 2020, 1365, 10.3390/rs12091365.
Patault, E., Ledun, J., Landemaine, V., Soulignac, A., Richet, J.-B., Fournier, M., Ouvry, J.-F., Cerdan, O., Laignel, B., Analysis of off-site economic costs induced by runoff and soil erosion: example of two areas in the northwestern European loess belt for the last two decades (Normandy, France). Land Use Policy, 108, 2021, 105541, 10.1016/j.landusepol.2021.105541.
Pimentel, D., Kounang, N., Ecology of soil erosion in ecosystems. Ecosystem 1 (1998), 416–426, 10.1007/s100219900035.
Pisa, P.R., Preti, F., Rossi, M., Ventura, F., Mazzanti, B., Water, soil and chemical losses: field experiments and model analysis. Water Sci. Technol. 39 (1999), 93–102, 10.2166/wst.1999.0144.
Reyniers, M., Maertens, K., Vrindts, E., De Baerdemaeker, J., Yield variability related to landscape properties of a loamy soil in central Belgium. Soil Tillage Res. 88 (2006), 262–273, 10.1016/j.still.2005.06.005.
Rhoton, F.E., Influence of time on soil response to no-till practices. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 64 (2000), 700–709, 10.2136/sssaj2000.642700x.
Richet, J.-B., Ouvry, J.-F., Saunier, M., The role of vegetative barriers such as fascines and dense shrub hedges in catchment management to reduce runoff and erosion effects: experimental evidence of efficiency, and conditions of use. Ecol. Eng. Wetl. Buffer Zones Watershed Manag. 103 (2017), 455–469, 10.1016/j.ecoleng.2016.08.008.
Sittig, S., Sur, R., Baets, D., Hammel, K., Consideration of risk management practices in regulatory risk assessments: evaluation of field trials with micro-dams to reduce pesticide transport via surface runoff and soil erosion. Environ. Sci. Eur., 32, 2020, 86, 10.1186/s12302-020-00362-1.
Sittig, S., Sur, R., Baets, D., Runoff mitigation via micro-dams and conservation tillage—Numerical modeling of runoff and erosion from maize field trials. Integr. Environ. Assess. Manag. 18 (2022), 1348–1363, 10.1002/ieam.4546.
Soane, B.D., Ball, B.C., Arvidsson, J., Basch, G., Moreno, F., Roger-Estrade, J., No-till in northern, western and south-western Europe: A review of problems and opportunities for crop production and the environment. Soil Tillage Res 118 (2012), 66–87, 10.1016/j.still.2011.10.015.
SPW (Service public de Wallonie), 2022a. Parcellaire agricole anonyme (situation 2021) - Service de visualisation WMS. Géoportail de la Wallonie. 〈http://geoportail.wallonie.be/catalogue/00916a35–786b-4569–9da6–71ca64ca54b1.html〉 (accessed 4.4.23).
SPW (Service public de Wallonie), 2022b. Direction générale opérationnelle de la Mobilité et des Voies hydrauliques (DGO2) - Annuaires et statistiques. voies-hydrauliques.wallonie.be. 〈http://voies-hydrauliques.wallonie.be/opencms/opencms/fr/hydro/Archive/annuaires/index.html〉 (accessed 3.31.22).
Stehle, S., Elsaesser, D., Gregoire, C., Imfeld, G., Niehaus, E., Passeport, E., Payraudeau, S., Schäfer, R.B., Tournebize, J., Schulz, R., Pesticide risk mitigation by vegetated treatment systems: a meta-analysis. J. Environ. Qual. 40 (2011), 1068–1080, 10.2134/jeq2010.0510.
Stehle, S., Dabrowski, J.M., Bangert, U., Schulz, R., Erosion rills offset the efficacy of vegetated buffer strips to mitigate pesticide exposure in surface waters. Sci. Total Environ. 545–546 (2016), 171–183, 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.12.077.
Sui, Y., Ou, Y., Yan, B., Xu, X., Rousseau, A.N., Zhang, Y., Assessment of micro-basin tillage as a soil and water conservation practice in the black soil region of Northeast China. PLoS One, 11, 2016, 10.1371/journal.pone.0152313.
Tan, W.J., Khor, J.F., Ling, L., Huang, Y.F., Misuse of Lambda (λ) in NRCS-CN Model. Huang, Y.F., Tan, K.W., Ling, L., Leong, K.H., (eds.) E3S Web of Conferences. Presented at the International Conference on Civil and Environmental Engineering (ICCEE), 2018, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 07006, 10.1051/e3sconf/20186507006.
Trnka, M., Olesen, J.E., Kersebaum, K.C., Skjelvåg, A.O., Eitzinger, J., Seguin, B., Peltonen-Sainio, P., Rötter, R., Iglesias, A., Orlandini, S., Dubrovský, M., Hlavinka, P., Balek, J., Eckersten, H., Cloppet, E., Calanca, P., Gobin, A., Vučetić, V., Nejedlik, P., Kumar, S., Lalic, B., Mestre, A., Rossi, F., Kozyra, J., Alexandrov, V., Semerádová, D., Žalud, Z., Agroclimatic conditions in Europe under climate change. Glob. Change Biol. 17 (2011), 2298–2318, 10.1111/j.1365-2486.2011.02396.x.
Truman, C.C., Nuti, R.C., Furrow diking in conservation tillage. Agric. Water Manag. 97 (2010), 835–840, 10.1016/j.agwat.2010.01.004.
USDA-SCS (United States Department of Agriculture- Soil Conservation Service), 1954. National Engineering Handbook, Section 4: Hydrology.
van Dijk, A.I.J.M., Bruijnzeel, L.A., Rosewell, C.J., Rainfall intensity–kinetic energy relationships: a critical literature appraisal. J. Hydrol. 261 (2002), 1–23, 10.1016/S0022-1694(02)00020-3.
Vejchar, D., Stehlik, M., Mayer, V., Influence of tied ridging technology on the rate of surface runoff and erosion in potato cultivation. Agron. Res. 15 (2017), 2207–2216, 10.15159/AR.17.039.
Verro, R., Finizio, A., Otto, S., Vighi, M., Predicting pesticide environmental risk in intensive agricultural areas. I: screening level risk assessment of individual chemicals in surface waters. Environ. Sci. Technol. 43 (2009), 522–529, 10.1021/es801855f.
Verstraeten, G., Poesen, J., The nature of small-scale flooding, muddy floods and retention pond sedimentation in central Belgium. Geomorphology 29 (1999), 275–292, 10.1016/S0169-555X(99)00020-3.
Virto, I., Imaz, M., Fernández-Ugalde, O., Gartzia-Bengoetxea, N., Enrique, A., Bescansa, P., Soil degradation and soil quality in Western Europe: current situation and future perspectives. Sustainability 7 (2014), 313–365, 10.3390/su7010313.
Wauters, E., Bielders, C., Poesen, J., Govers, G., Mathijs, E., Adoption of soil conservation practices in Belgium: an examination of the theory of planned behaviour in the agri-environmental domain. Land Use Policy 27 (2010), 86–94, 10.1016/j.landusepol.2009.02.009.
Wischmeier, W.H., Smith, D.D., 1978. Predicting Rainfall Erosion Losses: A Guide to Conservation Planning. USDA, Science and Education Administration, Hyattsville, Maryland, USA.
Wiyo, K.A., Kasomekera, Z.M., Feyen, J., Effect of tied-ridging on soil water status of a maize crop under Malawi conditions. Agric. Water Manag. 45 (2000), 101–125, 10.1016/S0378-3774(99)00103-1.
Zhang, D., Lin, Q., Chen, X., Chai, T., Improved curve number estimation in SWAT by reflecting the effect of rainfall intensity on runoff generation. Water, 11, 2019, 163, 10.3390/w11010163.
Zhang, X., Liu, X., Zhang, M., Dahlgren, R.A., Eitzel, M., A review of vegetated buffers and a meta-analysis of their mitigation efficacy in reducing nonpoint source pollution. J. Environ. Qual. 39 (2010), 76–84, 10.2134/jeq2008.0496.
