Effect of clearing native forest (Caatinga) strips on some hydrologic components of micro-watersheds.

The influences of clearing native vegetation (Caatinga) in contour strips at 25 cm vertical interval on evaporation losses in cleared strips, annual runoff efficiency and annuall soil loss on gently sloped micro-waterheds in the arid zones of Northeast Brazil are reported. The alternate native vegetation (Caatinga) strips function very effectively as windbreaks thus reducing evaporation losses substantially in the leeward cleared strips. The runoff measured at the micro-watershed with cleared strips was many-fold lower than the runoff obtained at a completely denuded watershed even when it was protected by narrow based channel terraces. However, the annual runoff efficiency can be significantly increased in a strip cleared watershed if narrow based channel terraces are provided on the lower side of cleared strips. The annual soil losses in strip cleared watersheds as well as completely denuded waterhed of gentle slopes were negligible. Thus clearing land in alternate contour strips on a micro-watersheds shall substantially improve crop water use efficiency without creating any significant erosion problems. Additionally this treatment will increase runoff for water harvesting for irrigation purposes.

Assessment of sugarcane harvesting residue effects on soil spectral behavior

When the harvesting of sugarcane involves a mechanized process, plant residues remain on the soil surface, which makes proximal and remote sensing difficult to monitor. This study aimed to evaluate, under laboratory conditions, differences in the soil spectral behavior of surface layers Quartzipsamment and Hapludox soil classes due to increasing levels of sugarcane?s dry (DL) and green (GL) leaf cover on the soil. Soil cover was quantified by supervised classification of the digital images (photography) taken of the treatments. The spectral reflectance of the samples was obtained using the FieldSpec Pro (350 to 2500 nm). TM-Landsat bands were simulated and the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and soil line were also determined. Soil cover ranged from 0 to 89 % for DL and 0 to 80 % for GL. Dry leaf covering affected the features of the following soil constituents: iron oxides (480, 530 and 900 nm) and kaolinite (2200 nm). Water absorption (1400 and 1900 nm) and chlorophyll (670 nm) were determinant in differentiating between bare soil and GL covering. Bands 3 and 4 and NDVI showed pronounced variations as regards differences in soil cover percentage for both DL and GL. The soil line allowed for discrimination of the bare soil from the covered soil (DL and GL). High resolution sensors from about 50 % of the DL or GL covering are expected to reveal differences in soil spectral behavior. Above this coverage percentage, soil assessment by remote sensing is impaired.