Impact
of land-use systems on fertility parameters and deterioration indices of soil
in the sub humid Southern Plains
of
Rajasthan, India
R.B.
Meena1*, S.C. Meena2, R.H. Meena2, N.M. Alam3,
R. Meena4, M. Nogiya5, R.L. Meena5, P. Kumar6,
D.C. Meena7 and G. L. Meena8
1ICAR- Indian of
Soil and Water Conservation, Research Centre, Agra-282 006, India
2Department of Soil
Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Rajasthan College of Agriculture, MPUAT,
Udaipur-313 001, India
3ICAR-Central
Research Institute for Jute & Allied Fibres, Kolkata-700 121, India
4Agricultural
Research Station, Fatehpur Shekhawati, Sikar, SKNAU- Jobner-332 301, India
5ICAR-National
Bureau of Soil Survey and Land use Planning, Regional Centre, Udaipur-313
001, India
6ICAR- National
Research Centre on Litchi, Muzaffarpur- 842 002, India
7ICAR-National
Institute of Agricultural Economics and Policy Research, New Delhi-110 012,
India
8ICAR-Indian
Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Research Center, Kota-324 002,
India
*Corresponding
Author Email :
rambhawan.meena07@gmail.com
*ORCiD:
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0624-9424
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Abstract
Aim:
This investigation was carried out to appraise the effect of different
prevailing land-use systems (LUSs) on nutrient status along with
deterioration indices of soil under sub-humid Southern Plains of Rajasthan.
Methodology: Six dominant land-use systems: barren, agricultural,
agri-horticulture, horticultural, grass, and natural forest were selected in
the sub-humid Southern Plains of Rajasthan. A total of 120 composite soil
samples [6-LUSs, 4- soil depths (0-20, 20-40, 40-60, and 60-80 cm), and five
replications] were collected for laboratory analysis. The two-way analysis of
variance was used to test the effect of different LUSs and soil depths on
available nutrients, essential properties with deterioration indices of soil.
Results:
The results of the study showed that soil organic carbon (SOC), DTPA extractable
Zn, Mn, available nitrogen, and CEC are the most degraded soil fertility
parameters under studied LUSs. Barren land-use has led to the highest decline
in Zn (͌75%), SOC (71%), N
(66%), Cu (62%) and Fe (57%), followed by Agricultural land-use that has led
to a decline in SOC (53%), Zn (46%), N (43%) and Mn (38%). The use of soil
deterioration indices revealed that soils deteriorated slightly under
grassland and horticultural LUSs (-11.05 and -11.81 %). However, moderate
deterioration was observed in the agri-horticulture land-use soil (-22.51 %)
while severe (-28.11%) and extremely severe deterioration (-47.50%) occurred
under agricultural and barren LUSs, respectively.
Interpretation: The result of
this study implies that consistent cultivation without appropriate land-use
management practices in the cultivated LUS aggravates the deterioration of
soil organic carbon and essential soil fertility parameters. These results
suggested that restoration of barren and agricultural lands into horticultural,
agri-horticulture, and grassland-uses consequently decreased soil disturbance
which could be an effective strategy for improving or maintaining the soil
quality and sustainability in the study area.
Key words: Deterioration
indices, Land-use system, Soil depth, Soil nutrients
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