Participatory Demonstration of Desho and Elephant Grass Strip as Biological Soil and Water Conservation Measures for Erosion Control

Abstract

Participatory demonstration and pre scaling up of biological soil conservation measures (desho andelephant grass)compared with control (without grass) works were conducted in 2011/12 E.C on three beneficiary farmers field by the main objective is contribution of biological conservation measures for controlling soil erosion and assessing farmer perception on these measures. The data were taken from 132 m2 trail area. Average soil loss data that were obtained from Elephant grass 6.6 ton/ha/yr-1, Desho grass 10.9 ton/ha/yr-1 and Control 13.4 ton/ha/yr-1. The greatest nutrient loss was measured from the control plots and the least on elephant grass plots. Based on the study result elephant grass has a high potential to control soil loss through strong root system efficiently and recovery immediately even under severe drought condition compared with desho grass. Additionally, farmer’s evaluation of grass strip showed a high attention in elephant grass than the desho grass due to their fast growing nature of the grass and their highest fresh weight biomass. Finally it is better to scale up elephant grass in larger scale to enhance acceptance and diffusion of the technology in dry land area on slope of 5% for controlling soil and nutrient losses.