Soil erosion is a serious threat to agriculture and environmental sustainability in the risk-prone rainfed Himalayan ecosystem. Hence, runoff and soil loss mitigation ability of four maize-based intensified systems; maize (Zea mays) + turmeric (Curcuma longa), maize + ginger (Zingiber officinale), maize + colocasia (Colocasia esculenta), and maize + sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) were tested against the sole maize. The study recorded 41 erosive events during the 2020–2022 monsoon season. A principal component analysis (PCA) was performed to transform correlated rainfall parameters into orthogonal principal components. A two-dimensional biplot analysis examined the relationship between PCs, rainfall events, and rainfall parameters. The rainfall events were divided into three regimes based on cluster analysis using PC. Rainfall regime 1 was characterized by low rainfall, I30, rainfall erosivity (E), and moderate rainfall duration (D), regime2 with moderate rainfall, short duration, high I30, and E, and regime3 with high D, I30, and rainfall erosivity. The soil loss of regime-3 was 9.29 and 3.24 times higher than regime-1 and regime-2, respectively. Cover crops reduced runoff by 21.5%–69.3% and soil loss by 54.1%–77.0% over control. Redundancy analysis (RDA) showed that rainfall parameters (I30, I60, D, and E) had a significant direct influence across the systems, explaining 37.7%–54.9% of response variable variance, with E being the most influential (47.4%–54.9%), indicating varied impacts on runoff and soil loss. The sweet potato was best suited with maize as an intercrop to minimize soil erosion and maximize the system's profitability.

中文翻译：

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套种作物和降雨变化调节印度喜马拉雅山雨养玉米的土壤侵蚀


在容易发生风险的喜马拉雅雨养生态系统中，土壤侵蚀对农业和环境可持续性构成严重威胁。因此，四种玉米强化系统的径流和土壤流失减缓能力；玉米（ Zea mays ）+姜黄（ Curcuma longa ）、玉米+生姜（ Zingiber officinale ）、玉米+芋头（ Colocasia esculenta ）和玉米+甘薯（ Ipomoea batatas ）与单一玉米进行了测试。该研究记录了 2020-2022 年季风季节的 41 次侵蚀事件。进行主成分分析（PCA），将相关降雨参数转换为正交主成分。二维双图分析检查了 PC、降雨事件和降雨参数之间的关系。基于 PC 的聚类分析，降雨事件被分为三个区域。降雨区 1 具有低降雨量、I30、降雨侵蚀力 ( E ) 和中等降雨持续时间 ( D )，降雨区 2 具有中降雨量、短持续时间、高 I30 和E ，区区 3 具有高D 、I30 和降雨侵蚀力。方案3的土壤流失量分别是方案1和方案2的9.29和3.24倍。与对照相比，覆盖作物减少径流 21.5%–69.3%，土壤流失减少 54.1%–77.0%。冗余分析（RDA）表明，降雨参数（I30、I60、 D和E ）对整个系统具有显着的直接影响，解释了响应变量方差的 37.7%–54.9%，其中E影响最大（47.4%–54.9）。 %)，表明对径流和土壤流失的不同影响。 甘薯最适合与玉米作为间作作物，以最大限度地减少水土流失并最大限度地提高系统的盈利能力。