خلاصة:
The impact of rainfall and light interception by litter on maintenance of surface soil water content is determined in an arid rangeland in Khabr National Park in south-east of Iran. Litter weight sampling is done by 90 square plots, each 1 m2, that are randomly placed within site. After determining the intensity of a typical storm of the region (20 mm/h), the rainfall duration required to saturate the litter from dry-weight to constant-weight is determined from the litter wetting curve. To plot the wetting curve, an outdoor rainfall simulator is used to wet the litter. Then drying curve of litter moisture content is determined from obtained field data with four replications. For measuring soil water content, three treatments are tested i.e. bare soil, soil with wetted litter and soil with dry litter. Average of the measured interception loss of four samples was 0.64% of this specific simulated rainfall (5.2 mm). This study clearly showed that rangeland litter decrease evaporation of the soil water content and light interception by litter have more important role in decreasing evaporation from the soil water content than the rainfall interception by litter.
ملخص الجهاز:
The role of rainfall and light interception by litter on maintenance of surface soil water content in an arid rangeland (Khabr National Park, southeast of Iran) M.
Sc. Student, Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Gorgan, Iran b Assistant Professor, Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Gorgan, Iran c Professor, Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Gorgan, Iran Received: 19 May 2009; Received in revised form: 27 November 2009; Accepted: 8 February 2010 Abstract The impact of rainfall and light interception by litter on maintenance of surface soil water content is determined in an arid rangeland in Khabr National Park in south-east of Iran.
Keywords: Litter interception; Light interception; Evaporation; Soil water content; Arid rangeland 1.
Litter conserves soil moisture by reducing evaporation from the soil but reduces input from rainfall by interception water equivalent to about twice the weight of litter (Naeth et al.
Litter interception loss is rainfall retained in the litter layer and evaporated without adding to moisture in the underlying mineral soil (Hamilton and Rowe, 1949).
In arid and semi-arid rangelands, as soil and plant processes are controlled by rainfall (Ludwig and Tongway, 1998; Ingram, 2002), one of the most important principles in sustainable utilization of these areas is efficient soil–water management (Snyman, 1998; Oesterheld et al.
The objectives of this study are therefore to determine the amount of litter interception loss in a shrubland and its effect on stabilization of surface soil water content.