The effectiveness of agroforestry in reducing the erosion rate compared to the eucalyptus plantation in Wanagama I educational forest

Due to the increasing demand of grass for feeding the cattle, agroforestry land use was developed in the area of Wanagama I Educational Forest. As a consequence, research on erosion rates at the agroforestry land use is very important, especially by comparing its erosion rate with that of eucalyptus in order to analyse the effectiveness of agroforestry in reducing the erosion rate. The objectives of the study is to determine the erosion rates both at the agroforestry area and eucalyptus plantation and the influence of rainfall to erosion rates at the two areas. The erosion rates were measured by using the small plot 22 x 4 meters established in the field both at the agroforestry and eucalyptus areas. For measuring the rainfall, ombrometer were installed at such sites. Sigma Plot software was applied for multiple regression analysis, to clarify the effect of rainfall depth and intensity on erosion rate. The results of the study showed that the erosion rates on eucalyptus plantation land was 1445.85 kg/ha or 1.45 tons/ha and on agroforestry land was 679.82 kg/ha or 0.68 tons/ha. Rainfall depth and rainfall intensity affect erosion on eucalyptus land with a coefficient of determination of 0.585 and on agroforestry lands of 0.716. © 2022 Institute of Physics Publishing. All rights reserved.