Choose the measures to control soil erosion and depletion from the following.…

Concept

Soil-conservation practices protect topsoil from being carried away by wind and water — they work by keeping the ground covered with vegetation or organic matter, or by slowing the speed of water flow across a slope. Mulching (covering the surface with organic material), terrace farming (levelling a slope into steps to slow runoff), and inter cropping (keeping the field covered with more than one crop through the season) all achieve this. Over grazing, by contrast, strips away plant cover and compacts the soil, which exposes it directly to wind and rain — it is a CAUSE of erosion and depletion, not a control measure.

Application

Checking each of the four listed practices against this idea: Mulching, Terrace farming, and Inter cropping all preserve or restore ground cover and reduce runoff, so each is a genuine control measure. Over grazing does the opposite — removing cover and compacting soil — so it must be excluded from any list of erosion-control measures. The set that keeps only the three genuine protective practices is Mulching, Terrace farming, and Inter cropping.

Cross-check

• Any grouping that pairs over grazing with protective practices fails the test, because over grazing degrades cover instead of preserving it.

• The only internally consistent grouping is the one containing exclusively cover-preserving, runoff-slowing practices — confirming the same result reached above.