Amelioration of soil hydrological performance and erosion rate on a revegetated cut slope

• Main Authors: Halim, Aimee, Yusoff, Ismail, Osman, Normaniza, Ismail, Noer El Hidayah
• Format: Article
• Published: Malaysian Society of Soil Science 2022
• Subjects: Q Science (General)
• Online Access: http://eprints.um.edu.my/43864/

Most of the uncovered slope surfaces in tropical climates are highly susceptible to shallow, rainfall-induced soil erosion. The practice of re-vegetation is known to hold promise for a sustainable and long-term solution. Hence this study aimed to evaluate slope hydrological performance associated with vegetation and identify correlations among the parameters. Three experimental plots were set up comprising three density treatments; control (C; without the addition of plants), less dense (LD; 0.7 plant/m2), and dense (D; 1 plant/m2). The vegetated plots were grown with potential pioneers, namely Lantana camara, Melastoma malabathricum, and Bauhinia pupurea in a mixed species composition. A significant decrease in soil bulk density and an increase in soil total porosity, hydraulic conductivity, moisture content, organic matter, and organic carbon were found in D plot. These positive changes boosted plant growth, resulting in higher community-plants aboveground biomass and root length density resulting in the erosion rate being alleviated in LD and D plots by 50.1 and 74.04, respectively. Soil infiltration capacity, soil structural dynamics, and soil water retention capacity explained the first three components of the principal component analysis (PCA). Thus, we suggest that the promising observations could improve our understanding of differential plant density responses to cut slope restoration performance, particularly for the eroded cut slopes in the tropics. © 2022, Malaysian Society of Soil Science. All rights reserved.