Effect of Covers for Soil and Water Conservation Using Tilting Flume

The effect of stone and vegetative covers was evaluated for soil and water conservation in a waterway on alfisols. Experiments were conducted on a hydraulic tilting flume under simulated flow (93 and 40 cm^2 s–1) and slope (0.1, 1.0, 3.0, and 5.0%) conditions. The depth of soil was maintained at 0.35 m over a perforated bed to facilitate deep drainage. A comparative study of bare soil, stone cover (50%), and vegetative cover (50%) is made to evaluate soil loss, deep drainage, Manningʹs roughness coefficient, and the Froude number. The study has revealed that stone cover is more effective than vegetative cover at lower discharge in reducing the flow velocity, and thereby soil erosion. Deep drainage has been reduced from lower to higher discharge for all the slopes with cover measures, including bare soil. It is found that cover measures are necessary beyond 3% slope in order to prevent rill erosion in alfisols.