ÓPTIMO DE COBERTURA VEGETAL EN RELACIÓN A LAS PÉRDIDAS DE SUELO POR EROSIÓN HÍDRICA Y LAS PÉRDIDAS DE LLUVIA POR INTERCEPTACIÓN

Abstract

It is established in a first approximation, the optimum of coverage in function of the losses of soil by hydric erosion and of the losses of rain by interception in a scrub, in Mediterranean semi-arid environmental conditions, with a same type of soil and two intervals of hillside slope, 11% and 25%. Is used for this, the annual average of nine sampling years in erosion plots, for three coverage intervals (8%, 30% and 70%) in plots with a 25% of slope. With them are established the erosion values (in percentage) with respect to the one which would be obtained in a soil without vegetation and are correlated with the corresponding degree of coverage, making what is same with the percentage of intercepted rain. The results indicate that in the plots with 11% of slope, the optimum degree of vegetable coverage is located in approximately a 58%, while this coverage optimum increases until 64% in the plots with slope of the 25%. Above those values, the losses of rain by interception go from the 15% to the 26% approximately, while the losses of soil by erosion by water reduce from 15% to 5%, of the one which would be produced in a bare soil.