Soil erosion is an
important cause of land degradation and consequent to soil fertility which
reduces land productivity and production. This problem aggravates in developing
countries like Ethiopia. To minimize this challenge, soil and water
conservation with proper design is the first choice. The aim of this study was
to assess the adoption and effect of Vetiver grass on soil erosion in Somodo
watershed. Community mobilization was used to implement Vetiver grass on farm
lands as bund stabilization and grass strip. Accordingly, more than 45 km (20%) of the watershed
was covered by Vetiver grass on soil bund as bund stabilizing measure. The
hedge was fully established within two years and formed averagely 36 cm raised
terrace. The result of the study showed that within two years period about 36 cm soil was accumulated
above the hedgerow. From mean annual soil deposition and average bulk density
of the watershed, the
mean annual soil loss was recorded 20.88 ton ha﹣1·year﹣1 in the
absence of Vetiver hedge row as erosion barrier. In addition, field slope was
reduced on average by 2.5% due to soil accumulated above Vetiver hedgerow. And
phosphorus availability was found higher on the above hedgerow than below the
hedge row while, exchangeable acidity was found less above the hedgerow than
below the Vetiver hedgerow in the watershed which implies soil fertility
improvement. The study recommends Vetiver hedgerow as an immediate mitigation
measure for soil erosion on hill slopes and farm lands which can be implemented
through community mobilization. Further study on how the Vetiver hedgerow
improves phosphorus availability and decreases exchangeable acidity is also
highly recommended.
Cite this paper
Tesfaye, G. , Debebe, Y. and Yakob, A. T. (2018). Adoption and Effect of Vetiver Grass (Vetiveria zizanioides) on soil Erosion in Somodo Watershed, South-Western Ethiopia. Open Access Library Journal, 5, e4431. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/oalib.1104431.
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