Conservation Techniques for Soil Erosion Control in Tobacco-Based Farming System at Steep Land Areas of Progo Hulu Subwatershed, Central Java, Indonesia

This research was aimed at determining the impact of conservation techniques including bench terrace, stone terrace, mulching, grass strip and intercropping on soil erosion at tobacco-based farming system at Progo Hulu subwatershed, Central Java, Indonesia. Research was conducted from September 2007 to September 2009, located at Progo Hulu subwatershed, Central Java, Indonesia. Research site divided into 27 land units, and experimental fields were grouped based on the soil type and slope, ie: 30%, 45% and 70%, with the following treatments: 1) ST0= stone terrace (control); 2) ST1= stone terrace + Setaria spacelata grass strip on a 5 cm height dike at terrace lips + tobacco stem mulch with dose of 50% (7 ton/ ha); 3) ST2= stone terrace + Setaria spacelata grass strip on a 5 cm height dike at terrace lips + tobacco stem mulch with dose of 100% (14 ton/ ha); 4) ST3= stone terrace + tobacco and red bean intercropping + tobacco stem mulch with dose of 50% (7 ton/ ha). 5) BT0= bench terrace (control); 6) BT1= bench terrace + Setaria spacelata grass strip at terrace lips + tobacco stem mulch with dose of 50% (7 ton/ ha); 7) BT2= bench terrace + Setaria spacelata grass strip at terrace lips + tobacco stem mulch with dose of 100% (14 ton/ ha); 8) BT3= bench terrace + tobacco and red bean intercropping + tobacco stem mulch with dose of 50% (7 ton/ ha). The results showed that the actual erosion rates of research site were higher than that of tolerance erosion with mean value 89.08 ton/ha/year and 33.40 ton/ha/year, respectively. These resulted in 69% of total research site (5,119.15 ha) highly degraded. Conservation technique of ST2 was the most effective in suppressing soil erosion, by 42.87%, following with BT2 as much 30.63%. Others suppressed erosion only less than 21%.

• Jaka Suyana
• Komariah
• Masateru Senge

• Steep land
• subwatershed
• conservation terrace
• tolerance erosion.

[1] Abdurrachman, A., S.Abuyamin, dan U. Kurnia. "Soil and Crop
management for Conservation" (in Indonesian). Pemberitaan Tanah dan
Pupuk. Pusat Penelitian Tanah. Bogor. 1984.
[2] Arsyad, S. "Soil and Water Conservation" (in Indonesian). Institut
Pertanian Bogor. Bogor. 1989.
[3] Arsyad, S. "Soil and Water Conservation: Revised" (in Indoensian)
Institut Pertanian Bogor. Bogor. 2000.
[4] Dariah, Ai. "Erosion level and soil quality on Cofee-based farming
system in Sumberjaya, Lampung Barat District" (in Indonesian).
Dissertation. Sekolah Pascasarjana, IPB. Bogor. 2004.
[5] Djajadi. "Erosion and Conservation of tobacco land in Temanggung
District" (in Indonesian). 2000. (unpublished)
[6] Good Governance in Water Resource Managemet (GGWRM)-European
Union (EU). 2004. "Direction of Land Rehabilitation and Soil
Conservation of Temanggung District" (in Indonesian). Pemkab.
Temanggung coorporated with GGWRM-EU.Juni 2004.
[7] Hammer, W.I., 1981. Soil Conservation Consultancy Report. Technical
Note No.7, Centre for Soil Research, Bogor, Indonesia.
[8] Hardjowigeno, S. 1987. Soil Science (Book, in Indonesian). Medyatama
Sarana Perkasa. Jakarta. pp. 110-114.
[9] Irawan, Kusnadi, H., Djunaedi, M.S., Kusnadi, K., dan U, Kurnia.
"Determining of Degraded Land" (Proceeding in Indonesian).
Puslittanak, Balitbangtan, Dept. of Agriculture. 2002.
[10] Kohnke, H and A.R. Bertrand. Soil Conservation. Mc. Graw Hill Book
Company. New York. 1959.
[11] Lal, R. Soil Erosion Problems on an Alfisol in Western Nigeria and Their
Control. IITA Monograph No. 1. Ibadan. 1976.
[12] Pimentel, D., C. Harvey, P. Resosudarmo, K. Sinclair, D. Kurz, M.
McNair, S. Crist, L. Shpritz, L. Fitton, R. Saffouri, and R. Blair. Land
Use, Erosion, and Water Resources. College of Agriculture and Life
Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. 1995.
[13] Project of Watershed Management Project. "Report on Conservation
Technique of Opak subwatershed Temanggung District" (in
Indonesian) Proyek Pusat Pengembangan Pengelolaan DAS.
Surakarta. 1990.
[14] Project of Watershed Technology Development. "Result of Technical
Study on Tobao farming in Progo Hulu subwatershed" (in Indonesian)
BTPDAS, Surakarta. 1994.
[15] Puslittanak."Manual of Land Evaluation" (in Indonesian). Agricultural
Dept., Balitbangtan, Departemen Pertanian. 1993.
[16] Puslittanak. "Annual Report of Soil and Agroclimate research of 2001"
(in Indonesian). Puslittanak, Balitbangtan, Deptan. Bogor. 2002.
[17] Rachman, A., Djajadi, dan A., Sastrosupadi. "The influence of manure
and nitrogen fertilizer on tobacco production and quality" (in
Indonesian). Balittas. Malang. Vol 3 (1): 15-21. 1988.
[18] Sinukaban, N. "Building agriculture become sustainable industry with
conservation farming" (in Indonesian). Direktorat Jenderal RLPS,
Departemen Kehutanan. Jakarta. 2007.
[19] Suwardjo. "The role of Crop residues in soil and water conservation" (in
Indonesian). Dissertation. Fakultas Pascasarjana IPB. Bogor. 1981.
[20] Tan, Kim. H. Soil Sampling, Preparation and Analysis. Marcel Dekker,
Inc. New York. 1996.
[21] Wood, S.R. & Dent, F.J. LECS. A land evaluation computer system
methodology. Bogor, Indonesia, Centre for Soil Research, Ministry of
Agriculture/UNDP/FAO. 221 pp. 1983.
[22] World Resources Institute. World Resources. New York : Oxford
University Press. 1992.