Influence of land terracing on agricultural and ecological environment in the loess plateau regions of China

The combination of ecological fragility and agricultural activity in the loess hilly–gully regions of western China has received broad environmental concerns. In this region, rainfall and soil moisture can fatally influence crop production under dry land farming. In this study, field experiments were conducted, from March 2001 to September 2005, to demonstrate the variation of soil moisture and fertilizer contents at different depths in slope and terraced lands, and to evaluate the ecological impacts and economic benefits in the terraced land of Loess Plateau. The results of both field test and Grey model (GM) calculation show that the terraced land, as compared to the sloping land, in the agricultural area of the Loess Plateau tends to store and retain much water, promoting more favorable interactions between water and fertilizer. During the months from March to June of the year with less rainfall, the water supply for crop growth is mainly derived from the deep storage of soil moisture accumulated from July to September of the previous year. The field experiments indicate that the crop yield of the 3-year-old terraced lands was 27% higher than that of the sloping lands with slopes greater than 10°, and that the crop yield can increase by 27.07 to 52.78% in the following cultivation years. In particular, potato was found to be more drought-resistant than winter wheat, thus it is more suitable for the arid and semi-arid Loess Plateau regions.