Pustaka Ilmiah Universitas Padjadjaran

Abstrak

Could Geojute Effective To Control Erosion And Run Off On Areas With Various Land Slope ?

Geojute is woven from a heavy, 100 percents jute yarn with a coarse, open mesh structure, and is the ideal erosion control material for land slope. Advantage of geojute are as follows: (1) jute is a natural fiber that breaks down in one to two year and is not alien to the (natural) environment; (ii) decomposed of jute provides a nontoxic product which adds rich organic nutrients to the soil; (iii) the coarse yarn of jute matting prevents excessive water flow washing a way soil and seed from the land slopes and (iv) geojute is flexible enough to follow soil surface.Application of geojute on soils is another alternative engineering for reducing soil erosion during the early stages of crop growth especially those crops which need a longer time for full canopy cover to develop. Combination of geojute with cover crops such as grasses and legumes will have a significant impact in reducing the effect of raindrops on soil structure and therefore increase infiltration capacity, reduce run off velocity and absorbs water.The purpose of the experiment was to study on the effect of geojute with cover crop grasses and legumes to control erosion and run off on various sloping land. A field experiment was done at the Agricultural Experiment and Development Station in Arjasari West Java, Indonesia. The experimental design employed was Split Plot Design with two factors respectively: combination of geojute with cover crops and degree of land slopes.Research results show that erosion and run off significantly increased with increase of slope gradient except when the soil was covered by geojute combined with grass in significant soil loss occurred. Soil covered with geojute combined with grass gave the least run off and was significantly different as compared with other treatments.