We assessed the effects of combining bio-char with straw residue mulching on the loss of soil soluble nutrients and citrus yield in sloping land. The two-year study showed that straw residue mulching (ST) and bio-char application combined with straw residue (ST+BC) can significantly reduce soil soluble nutrient loss when compared with the control treatment (CK). The comparative volume of the soil surface runoff after each of the treatments was as follows: CK > ST > ST + BC. Compared with the CK, the runoff volume of the ST was reduced by 13.6 % and 8.5 % in 2014 and 2015, respectively. Compared with the CK, combining bio-char with the ST application reduced the loss of soluble nitrogen and improved the soil total nitrogen content reaching a significant level in 2015. It dramatically increased the soil organic matter content over the two year period (36.3% in 2014, 50.6% in 2015) as well as the carbon/nitrogen ratio (C/N) (16.6% in 2014 and 39.3% in 2015). Straw mulching combined with bio-char showed a trend for increasing the citrus yield.

With the concerns of global climate change, the significant changes in rainfall patterns have aggravated the occurrence of pollutants from agricultural uplands. Heavy and intensive rainfalls have rinsed a variety of pollutants off the land, sending them into the neighboring water environments which further causes water pollution problems. Recently, the application of PAM(Polyacrylamide) in agricultural lands has gotten much attention for soil conditioning. Therefore, this study aimed to develop the automatic control system applying the chemical flocculant, liquid PAM in order to flocculate the suspended solids and deposit at the bottom of farmland water channel, so eventually minimize the amount of non-point pollutants discharged into receiving water. The optimum feed rate for liquid PAM was calculated through the experiment in artificial water channel and applied to the control system. As the results of the performance test of the automatic turbid water control system installed in the sloped field, the range of turbidity reduction rate was 25 to 33% with the average turbidity of 292 to 498 NTU in water channel.