干旱区生态环境知识资源中心

Estimation of soil erosion based on modeling, as with the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) or the revised USLE (RUSLE), considers anthropogenic action (factor C) for land uses and has limitations to detect how that influence happens. The objective of this research was to develop a procedure to identify the presence or absence of soil conservation actions based on the expert observation of evidence on lands dedicated to rainfed agriculture in northern Durango, Mexico. The study unit (UE) of 2250 km(2), included San Pedro del Gallo and San Luis del Cordero (25 degrees 21" and 25’ 59" N; -104 degrees 29", -104 degrees 1"W and arid and semiarid climate). The experimental design was completely randomized on the coverage of UE agricultural plots. A questionnaire with six categories and 15 indicators was used with the Kappa-Cohen technique. The information was analyzed with descriptive statistics module contingency tables in SPSS r (IBM, NY, USA). The results showed significant (p <= 0.05) and highly significant (p <= 0.001) concordances, which represented substantial agreement (Kappa= 0.686). This indicated that 52 % of the study cases do not perform adequate rainwater management practices to favor crops, and do not incorporate organic matter; thus, the practice for the control of soil erosion is not a priority for UE farmers.