What is meant by contour farming?

contour farming, the practice of tilling sloped land along lines of consistent elevation in order to conserve rainwater and to reduce soil losses from surface erosion.

What is the difference between strip cropping and contour farming?

Farming on the contour creates small ridges that slow runoff water. In stripcropping, the small grain or hay strips slow runoff water, allowing infiltration and filtering sediment. Farming on the contour rather than up and down reduces fuel consumption and is easier on equipment.

What are the types of contour farming?

• Mulch farming. Mulch is a layer of crop residue placed on the soil surface.
• Conservation tillage. Soil structure is extremely prone to intense tropical rains and harsh climate.
• Strip cropping.
• Contour farming.
• Cover crops.
• Vegetative hedges or strips.

Why is contour farming used?

Contour farming can reduce soil erosion by as much as 50 percent compared to up and down hill farming. By reducing sediment and runoff and increasing water infiltration, contouring promotes better water quality.

What are the advantages of alley farming?

ADVANTAGES OF ALLEY CROPPING (i) The pruned leaves help in the feeding of ruminants in the dry season as fodder. (ii) The branches or stems are cut and used as yam stake and firewood. (iii) The shades provided by the plants help to suppress weed growth. (iv) The pruned leaves also serve as mulching materials.

What is an example of contour farming?

Contour farming is farming with row patterns that run nearly level around the hill — not up and down the hill. Contour stripcropping is crop rotation and contouring combined in equal-width strips of corn or soybeans planted on the contour and alternated with strips of oats, grasses, or legumes.

How is contour farming used?

Farming across the slope helps to shorten slope lengths, slowing down runoff water so it can soak into the soil. Contour farming slows water down and lets it soak into the soil. Combine contour farming with cover cropping and other conservation practices for more soil fertility and slope protection.

What is the advantage and disadvantage of alley cropping?

By combining annual crops and perennial crops that yield multiple products and profits at different times, a landowner can use available space, time, and resources more effectively. One main disadvantage of the Alley cropping system is that additional labour is required to prune the trees.

What is the advantage of alley cropping?

Alley cropping can have many ecological and economical benefits. Reduced soil erosion. Especially when established in sloping areas, alley cropping can slow erosion, thereby improving water quality. Improved crop performance.

Where is contour farming done?

Contour farming is applied in certain European countries such as Belgium, Italy, Greece, Romania, Slovenia and Spain in areas with higher than 10\% slope. P. A. Yeomans’ Keyline Design system is critical of traditional contour plowing techniques, and improves the system through observing normal land form and topography.

What is alley cropping?

Alley cropping is the cultivation of food, forage or specialty crops between rows of trees. It is a larger version of intercropping or companion planting conducted over a longer time scale. Alley cropping can provide profitable opportunities for row crop farmers, hardwood timber growers, nut growers and Christmas tree growers.

What are the advantages of alleys in agriculture?

Shelter. Rows of trees reduce wind speed, thereby controlling wind erosion. They also create sheltered microclimates that improves the yield and quality of crops growing in the alleys. Wildlife. Alley cropping increases the biodiversity of cropland which creates new habitat for wildlife.

What happens during the cropping phase of Agriculture?

During the cropping phase the trees are pruned and the prunings used as green manure or mulch on the crop to improve the organic matter status of the soil and to provide nutrients, particularly nitrogen, to the crop. The hedgerows are allowed to grow freely to shade the inter-rows when there are no crops.

Does alley cropping reduce weeds in hedgerows?

In most alley cropping systems, the weed suppression effect of the hedgerows is not fully exploited and further studies of the effect of different hedgerow species, fallowing and manipulation of cutting regimes may improve the effectiveness of the system in reducing weed infestation.