Effectiveness evaluation of wheat straw and wood shred mulches for runoff and sediment yield reduction from unit source micro-catchments

In this study, the effectiveness of wheat straw mulch and wood shred was investigated in order to reducing runoff and sediment yield from unit source micro-catchments. Three micro-catchments (one for control and two others for treatments) were selected with an area of 1/ha for each wich are located in upstream of Gheshlagh Dam in Kurdistan province. After the implementation of treatments (application rate of 3 ton. ha-1), each micro-catchment was equipped with one flume at its outlet to measure the runoff rate and turbidity during storm events across one-year sampling from 2014-2015. The result of RRE and SLRE showed that straw mulch and wood shred have reduced runoff by 24.54 and 13.24 percent, and sediment yield by 58.75 and 44.10 percent in comparison to the untreated micro-catchment, respectively. Wheat straw mulch showed better performance in reducing runoff and sediment than wood shred. This might be due to the twisted fibers of straw mulch, the formation of barrier against the flow, and filtration of sediment particles by straw.