Department of Soil and Water Engineering, College of Technology and Engineering, Udaipur-313001, Rajasthan, (India).
This paper summaries the research work has been done by various research workers on runoff and soil loss in black and associate soils during the recent past. Black soils (Vertisols) occupied as area about 72.90 Mha and thus form a major natural soil resource in the country. Zingg (1940) developed an equation to calculate field soil loss. In 1953, a laboratory was established at Lafayette, Indiana (USA) to collect, summaries and combine runoff and soil loss dada. Smith and Wischmeier (1962) developed equation of soil loss which related to land slope and further Wischmeier and Smith (1965) developed the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE). Tejwani et al., (1975) conducted field study in black soils of Bellary (Karnataka) and found soil proportional to slope length power pattern. Dabney et al., (1995) evaluates effectiveness of grass hedges on erosion control. Rande et al., (1997) found effectiveness of vegetative barriers which are as effective as mechanical barriers in erosion control. Singh et al., (2002) and Nalathwadmath et al., (2004) evaluates runoff and sediment loss under different slope length and steepness of slope. It is important to note that so much research work has been carried and the data is still insufficient to predict soil loss from fields and to evaluate accurate effective measures for erosion control in black soils under Indian conditions. It is, therefore felt essential that systematic study should be continued on various parameters effecting soil loss through erosion, so that in due course of time it would be possible to come out with conaete solution.
