Efficacy of raised bed with furrow system in controlling runoff and soil loss in Alfisols

Arid and semi-arid regions experience prolonged dry spells during the crop season, resulting in severe reduction of crop productivity. In-situ moisture conservation could be a viable solution to withstand the intermittent dry spells of short duration ranging from 7-10 days during crop season. Adoption of in-situ moisture conservation interventions like raised bed and furrow, BBF, mulching, conservation furrows etc. conserves moisture in the soil, controls runoff and reduces soil erosion. In this study, the effectiveness of in-situ moisture conservation  using raised bed and furrow system in controlling runoff and soil loss was evaluated for the period 1951 to 2023 and 2050s using SCS-CN method and RUSLE. It was found that raised bed treatment has reduced the runoff to 7.14% of seasonal rainfall compared to 9.71% in the the control in a a normal year (2022). Similarly, the runoff was 2.89% of seasonal rainfall in the drought year compared to 4.35% in the the control (2023). Raised bed with furrow system has reduced the soil loss to 2.94 t ha-1y-1 compared to 4.97 t ha-1y-1 in control during normal year (2022) and 0.97  t ha-1y-1 compared to 1.62 t ha-1y-1 in control during drought year (2023). The mean seasonal runoff during 1951-2021 from raised bed treatment was 6.79% and 8.85% of mean seasonal rainfall in control whereas the mean seasonal soil loss was 2.23 t ha-1y-1 in raised bed and furrow system compared to 3.72 t ha-1y-1 in control. The expected rainfall in the study area by the 2050s is more than the mean seasonal rainfall, and hence, there is more scope for rainwater harvesting in the near future. The mean seasonal runoff expected by the 2050s (under RCP 4.5) in control is 9.9% whereas with interventions it can be reduced to 6.0% of seasonal rainfall. Similarly, the expected mean seasonal soil loss from control is 4.4 t ha-1y-1 which can be reduced to 2.20 t ha-1y-1 with interventions. Similar trend was observed in case of mean annual runoff and mean annual soil loss. Based on the long-term data analysis, it was found that in semi-arid regions, in-situ moisture conservation plays a pivotal role in controlling runoff and soil loss and needs to be adopted as a compulsory component while sowing the field crops or planting tree crops.