Erosión Eólica En Zonas Productoras De Quinua En El Altiplano Boliviano

Abstract

In Bolivia, about 40% of the land is affected by erosion processes associated with factors such as water, wind and inadequate soil management. Nowadays, quinoa is a crop that has international demand, focusing on the habilitation of new lands for its production. The quinoa production zone in the southern Altiplano of Bolivia is characterized by an arid climate with strong winds that influence the trawling of particles with the consequent effect on the availability of nutrients in the soil. The objective of the present work is to quantify the amount of soil eroded by the wind action through the use of a Big Spring Number Eight (BSNE) collector developed by Fryrear (1986). This instrument has three collectors located at 10 cm, 50 cm and 150 cm high from the soil surface. Three collectors were used at one end and three collectors in the other of each plot, the distance between collectors was 10 meters, so the area of influence of each plot was 4000 m2. Three management units were identified: rest (fallow), quinua plot fertilized with camelid cattle manure and quinua plot without fertilizer. For the soil collected in the collectors, the weight of accumulated soil, total nitrogen and organic matter were determined. The results show that there is a greater movement of particles in the first 10 cm of the soil this is associated to the predominance of the process of saltation. The highest movement of soil particles was registered in the cultivated plots (fertilized and without fertilize), while the rest plot showed a smaller movement of soil particles, associated to a greater coverage by native vegetation cover. The total nitrogen content was higher in the month of May, although the amount of accumulated soil was lower in this month, as for the accumulation of organic matter there were no differences between treatments.