Effects of vegetation pattern and of biochar and powdery soil amendments on soil loss by wind in a semi‐arid region

Abstract Dust emission from wind erosion is a widespread phenomenon in arid and semi‐arid areas having considerable implications for ecosystems and human well‐being. However, few studies have examined the efficiency of biochar amended to soil on wind erosion control. Aimed at studying the effect of biochar on resistance of soils against wind erosion, a wind tunnel experiment was conducted. We tested (a) soils amended with hard waste walnut wood biochar and soft maize cob biochar, and (b) soils amended with powdery waste wood and powdery maize cob, and compared them with (c) non‐treated soil, in their susceptibility to wind erosion and also the additional effect of various patterns of vegetation cover. Amending soil with biochar and powdery material did significantly increase their resilience to wind erosion because of increased soil aggregation. In comparison with the non‐treated control, the mass flux of un‐vegetated soil reduced from 4.42 to 1.86 g m −2 s −1 for the waste walnut wood biochar, from 4.28 to 1.50 g m −2 s −1 for maize cob biochar, from 4.11 to 1.44 g m −2 s −1 for powdery maize cob and from 3.97 to 1.14 g m −2 s −1 for powdery waste walnut wood. When combining amendments with vegetation, there was still a substantial improvement, though the soil treatments responded differently in terms of soil loss to different vegetation patterns. A single row vegetation pattern had the highest mass flux, while a zigzag vegetation pattern had the lowest. In conclusion, waste wood or maize cobs, whether applied as biochar or as powdery material, are able to fix soil and reduce wind erosion.