Effects of Caragana Korshinskii Kom. cover on runoff, sediment yield and nitrogen loss

Soil erosion is serious in the Loess Plateau of China. Deposition of the eroded sediment in lakes or rivers may lead to eutrophication, because the sediment carries a lot of nutrients. Field experiments were conducted to study soil erosion and loss of nitrogen (N) from a 15° hillslope with 30% (low) or 80% (high) coverage of the shrub Caragana korshinskii Kom. A bare soil plot was used for the comparison. The results showed that Caragana korshinskii cover significantly reduced runoff and soil erosion. In comparison to the bare soil plot, the vegetation covered plots had about 20% less runoff and 65% less sediment. In general, the concentration of N in both runoff water and the eroded sediment decreased with time and approached a steady value. However, the species of nitrate nitrogen (NO3) was exceptional which increased with time slightly. The soil erosion caused an N loss of about 250 mg/m2 for the bare soil plot, the low coverage of Caragana korshinskii reduced the N loss by 20% and the high coverage of Caragana korshinskii reduced the N loss by 40%. Moreover, the amount of total N in eroded sediment was 2 to 3 times higher than the value in runoff water. In the total N loss, the organic N was about 75-80%. Nevertheless, inorganic N in runoff water was 5 to 10 times higher than the value in eroded sediment. The species of NO3 was obviously higher than the species of ammonium nitrogen (NH4). NO3 was the main species of inorganic N loss and was about two thirds of total. The organic N was the main species of N in the eroded sediment.