Vetiver grass strip would be used as a means of controlling erosion on-site.
You may cause a lot of soil disturbance installing concrete barriers to isolate your plot, which will in turn affect your results. Metal may be more appropriate as you can hammer them into the soil which causes less disturbance and creates a pretty good seal with the soil. Runoff plots will never give you a true representation of erosion/runoff as you will always have an edge effect especially on the down slope (bottom) side where you would presumably be collecting water and sediment. The larger the plot you have the less you need to worry about edge effects.
Asbestos sheet, poliester, galvanized steel, ... any of these materils are good depending on your budget. Concrete or tile walls are difficult to remove once your experiment is over.
The concrete brick plots are more resistant to socavation, and are suitable for long term experiments (more than one year). Is obvious that special care is needed when installing the brick strips. And, it is true, once a concrete plot is installed, it is very difficult to remove it. However, if you are planning an experiment for only one or two years, plots made from metal sheets are recommendable. In this case, you must take additional care about socavation. Both concrete bricks and metal sheets cause some disturbance over the plots edges. Even more, when plot are designed one together the other without a free strip between them. But, in economic term, this arragement is less expensive.
How large is the area? Why not use a simple soil berm with only sufficient height to accommodate a 50-year rainfall event, about 1 meter wide and seed with native vegitation then keep trimmed? Like somone else said, the larger the plot area, the less the edge effect and growing vegetation will use water and act to intake water and hopefully not compete with the crop growing in your plot
The area is 0.752 ha. with plot size of 40 x 3 m2 . I dont know about Soil berm, can you assist me with a field design pictorial.
I think concrete plots are not suitable for measuring surface run off but they are ok for erosion estimation.if you want to calculate both of them at the same time and same place it is better you think about small catchments with a flume at the out let .
Are you studying it under natural rainfall or you will simulate the rainfall? Do you intend to use micro or mini runoff plot or what is going to be the length and width (area of your runoff plot? This will give one in advising you
Best to use earth ie make it as ridge/bund to seperate one one runoff plot from the other
Hello Oku, Were you Prof. OluOla Babalola's student ? If so, its good to read from you. i think concrete runoff plot is not practicable in the lab ( ie simulated condition) also i have stated the plot size before the last but one contributor. Expecting more of your contribution.
Your first effort should be to keep the plots resemblive of natural field, so concrete blocks no good, better use soil bunds all around the plots
Perfect, Ete Efiom are you currently working on erosion control? How is it like in Europe? Please get me some blogs on this research area. (Reach me at dennis.edem @gmail.com. for private discussion)
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