Project in Science IV Cut/Search pictures of the ways of preventing soil erosion and each briefly.

(1 picture for each paper) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. strip cropping contour flowing terracing crop rotation cover crop

*Paste it in short bond paper and put it in a green sliding folder. To be submitted on or before Dec. 13, Thursday Note: Those projects submitted after the deadline is subject foe deduction of grades. 1. Strip cropping is a method of farming used when a slope is too

steep or too long, or otherwise, when one does not have an alternative method of preventing soil erosion. Strip cropping alternates strips of closely sown crops such ashay, wheat, or other small grains with strips of row crops, such as corn,soybeans, cotton, or sugar beets Strip cropping helps to stop soil erosion by creating natural dams for water, helping to preserve the strength of the soil. Certain layers of plants will absorb minerals and water from the soil more effectively than others. When water reaches the weaker soil that lacks the minerals needed to make it stronger, it normally washes it away. When strips of soil are strong enough to slow down water from moving through them, the weaker soil can't wash away like it normally would. Because of this, farmland stays fertile much longer.

2. Contour plowing (or contour ploughing) or contour farming is

the farming practice ofploughing across a slope following its elevation contour lines. The rows form slow water run-off during rainstorms to prevent soil erosion and allow the water time to settle into the soil. In contour ploughing, the ruts made by the plow run perpendicular rather than parallel to slopes, generally resulting in furrows that curve around the land and are level. A similar practice iscontour bunding where stones are placed around the contours of slopes.

3. A method of shaping land to control erosion on slopes of rolling land used for cropping and other purposes. In early practice the land was shaped into a series of nearly level benches or steplike formations. Modern practice in terracing, however, consists of the construction of low-graded channels or levees to carry the excess rainfall from the land at nonerosive velocities.

4. Crop rotation is the practice of growing a series of dissimilar/different

types of crops in the same area in sequential seasons. Crop rotation confers various benefits to the soil. A traditional element of crop rotation is the replenishment of nitrogen through the use of green manure in sequence with cereals and other crops. Crop rotation also mitigates the build-up of pathogens and pests that often occurs when one species is continuously cropped, and can also improve soil structure andfertility by alternating deep-rooted and shallow-rooted plants. Crop rotation is one component of polyculture.

5. A cover crop is a crop planted primarily to manage soil fertility, soil

quality, water, weeds,pests, diseases, biodiversity and wildlife in an agroecosystem (Lu et al. 2000), an ecological system managed and largely shaped by humans across a range of intensities to produce food, feed, or fiber. Cover crops are of interest in sustainable agriculture as many of them improve the sustainability of agroecosystem attributes and may also indirectly improve qualities of neighboring natural ecosystems. Farmers choose to grow and manage specific cover crop types based on their own needs and goals, influenced by the biological, environmental, social, cultural, and economic factors of the food system within which farmers operate