The growth and hedge forming ability of the berm planted barriers were relatively inferior, which permitted higher amounts of runoff and soil loss. The
higher magnitude of soil loss was responsible for
greater losses of organic C and N under berm planting
than under bund planting of the barriers. Loss of
available P was negligible and was not influenced
significantly by the conservation measures. Sambuta
under bund planting (0.17 kg ha-1
) was, however,
the greatest protector of P followed by vetiver under
the same planting methodology. Like nitrogen, K is
readily soluble in water and prone to high losses
along with runoff. In this study, the loss of available
K from the bund planted sambuta plot was the lowest
(1.56 kg ha-1
) closely followed by the bund planted
vetiver plot (1.77 kg ha-1
), while the highest loss of
available K (3.24 kg ha-1
) was recorded from the
plots treated with berm planted lemongrass barrier