Effect of Agropyron elongatum residue on decreasing runoff and soil loss- An experimental study using rainfall simulator

Nowadays, soil and water conservation is one of important methods for the natural resources management. There are several ways to do this. One of these methods is the use of organic mulches. In this research, the effect of Agropyron elongatum residueon runoff and soil loss were examined in three cover percentages (0, 30 and 70%) with diameters 4 cm in length and 0.35 cm width in the laboratory conditions using rainfall simulator. The experiments were carried out in a plot with 2 meters length, 1 meter width and 0.2 meter depth, where 0.2 m of the depth of plots was filled with silty loam soil. Then plants residue was covered soil surface and simulated rainfall intensity was 50 mm per hour for 20 minutes. After experimental rainfall simulations, the amount of runoff and sediment were measured. LSD test results in cover percentages of (0, 30 and 70%) for 4cm size showed there are significant differences in runoff volume, sediment load, sediment concentration and runoff coefficient at 95% level of confidence (sig ≤0.05) between the percent cover (0, 30 and 70%) of this size.