Coir Geocell System for Slope Land Stabilization and Cultivation with Brinjal (Solanum Melongena) Crop

Authors- Abhishek C., Sibi Joy, Jithu P. Ajith, Aneesh R.

Abstract-Coir geotextiles is one among the widespread sustainable and environmental friendly solutions adopted for checking soil erosion and stabilization of slope. In such applications, grasses are typically used as vegetation. If cultivation of crop as vegetable could be adopted in such sloping regions, it would be highly beneficial as more area would be brought under cultivation. Application of coir geotextile alone would not suffice the need as geotextile as such cannot contain the manures and other amendments which are to be incorporated for the crop along the slope. Coir geocells can play a significant role in stabilization of slope protecting it from soil erosion along with cultivation. The study focuses on the cultivation of brinjal (Solanum melongena) in coir geocell on a sloping terrain of 40% and the assessment of soil erosion from the treatment plot in comparison with a control and coir geotextile laid plot. The soil loss from the treatment plots were estimated using multislot divisor. The crop was evaluated for various parameters for assessing the growth of the crop in coir geocell. The study revealed that the coir geocell is effective in controlling the soil erosion along with the cultivation of crop in them. It was found that the total soil loss from the coir geocell during the period of study was nearly one tenth of the total soil loss from the control plot during the same period. The crop exhibited good growth on the sloping terrain.

DOI: /10.61463/ijset.vol.12.issue6.367