Journal of Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers ISSN:1738-3692(Print) 2093-7709(Online) 한국농공학회논문집

Various Best Management Practices (BMPs) have been suggested to reduce soil erosion and non point source (NPS) pollutant loads from agricultural fields. However, very little research regarding water quality improvement with No-till (NT) has been performed in Korea. Thus, effects of NT were investigated in this study. The objective of the study was to investigate the effect of NT on the surface runoff and sediment discharge in a field. Eight experimental plots of 5×30 m in size and 3 % or 8 % in slope prepared on gravelly sandy loam soil were treated with Conventional-till (CT) and NT. Runoff and NPS pollution discharge were monitored and compared the treatments. The amounts of rainfall from 13 monitored events ranged from 28.7 mm to 503.5 mm. The runoff amount was reduced by 17.6~59.2 % in 3 % NT and 29.6~53.2 % in 8 % NT. The average NPS pollution loads of the 3 % NT plots and 8 % NT plot were reduced about 45.1~89.2 % and 47.7~98.0 % compared to those of the CT plots, respectively. This research revealed that NT can reduce the NPS pollution loads substantially as well as increase the crop yield. Runoff and NPS pollution loads reduction by NT method could be contribute to improve the water quality of streams in agricultural regions.