WATER EROSION EVALUATION OF TEPETATES IN RELATION TO RECLAMATION AND PRODUCTIVITY

This paper reviews the effects of water in tepetates and its relations hip to reclamation and productivity, how there changes in properties c an cause problems in crop yields, the effects of erosion an hydraulic properties, and the relation of soil properties to produce potential o f tepetates. An experiment using runoff plots was conducted to evaluat e three treatments and two crops: straight row, contoured row, and che ck row. The crops were beans and corn. Several simple models were eval uated to show that root-zone water-storage capacity can be reduced by erosion. Losses in available water-storage capacity can result in sign ificant reductions in crop yield. The relative productive potential in tepetates was calculated using a physical approach. In general, the m ethod determines the relative productive potential of soil in terms of the environment the soil provides for root growth based on the soil's available water capacity (AWC).