Short-term soil loss by eolian erosion in response to different rain-fed agricultural practices

• Short-term soil loss by wind erosion in different agricultural practices.
• Integration of in-situ eolian experiments and analyses of topsoil properties.
• High rates of soil losses following topsoil treatments.

Eolian (wind) erosion is a widespread process and a major form of soil degradation in arid and semi-arid regions. The present study examined eolian soil loss and changes in soil properties at a field scale, in response to different soil treatments in two rain-fed agricultural practices by short-term field experiments using a boundary-layer wind tunnel and soil properties analysis. Two practices with different soil treatments of mechanical tillage and stubble grazing intensities were applied in the fallow phase of the rotation (dry season). Mechanical tillage operations and stubble grazing intensities had immediate and direct effects on soil aggregation but not on the soil texture, and the contents of soil water, organic matter, and CaCO3. Higher erosion rates, measured as fluxes of total eolian sediment (TAS) and particulate matter <10 μm (PM10), were recorded under mechanical tillage and grazing intensities compared with the undisturbed topsoil of the control plots. The erosion rates were higher in grazing plots than in tillage plots. The calculated soil fluxes in this study indicate potentially rapid soil degradation due to loss of fine particles.