scholarly journals Soil Quality and Its Potential Indicators under Different Land Use Systems in the Shivaliks of Indian Punjab

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 3490
Author(s):  
Bharat Bhushan Vashisht ◽  
Bijesh Maharjan ◽  
Sandeep Sharma ◽  
Samanpreet Kaur

The present study assessed the overall state of the soil based on the most sensitive soil attributes under different land uses—i.e., rainfed agriculture, mixed forest, afforestation and non-arable lands—in the lower Shivaliks of Indian Punjab. The soil parameters—i.e., erosion ratio, bulk density and water retention characteristics—and fertility parameters were integrated under different land uses to identify potential soil quality indicators.The overall state of the soil, based on a weighted average of primary soil functions under different land uses through fuzzy modeling, was deemed best for agricultural land use (0.515), followed by forests (0.465) and non-arable lands (0.456), and deemed worst under afforestation (0.428). Among the different land use systems, principal component analysis (PCA) clearly separated the agriculture and forest samples from afforestation and non-arable lands samples. The contribution of potential indicators such as erosion ratio (ER), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) toward the soil quality index (SQI) was substantial. The order of contribution of the selected indicators to the SQI was 53.5%, 34.3% and 19.9% for ER, P and K, respectively. These indicators are most influential for studying real time soil health and ecological processes in the future, under various land use systems in degraded agroecosystems like the Shivaliks.

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-135
Author(s):  
Mujiyo MUJIYO ◽  
Suntoro SUNTORO ◽  
Restu Prasetyaning TYAS ◽  
Aktavia HERAWATI ◽  
Hery WIDIJANTO

Soil quality is closely related to environment because soil is not only viewed as a growing media for plants but also encompasses various environmental and health functions. It is important to know the quality of soil in order to keep it healthy, productive, and optimally functioning. This research aims to evaluate soil quality status in various land uses and to learn the land factors that are related to soil quality. Soil quality index (SQI) represents the soil quality status. SQI will then be used as the basis for soil management. A descriptive explorative research study was carried out in the Giritontro Sub-district, Wonogiri District, Indonesia. SQI indicators were obtained from 12 existing Land Mapping Units (LMU). SQI was obtained by determining the Minimum Data Set (MDS) with a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) test. Then SQI was mapped and statistically analyzed to determine the influence of land use and the determinant factors of SQI. Results showed that SQI in all area is class 3 or moderate. SQI was significantly influenced by land use. SQI in paddy field is 9.09% higher than crop fields and 2.27% higher than of plantations. Indicators which are significantly related to SQI are bulk density, porosity, cation exchange capacity, available P, available K and microbial biomass carbon (MBC). The type of soil management that can be implemented to improve soil quality includes addition of organic or inorganic fertilizer and adoption of an agroforestry system.


Author(s):  
B. O. Adebo ◽  
A. O. Aweto ◽  
K. Ogedengbe

Soil quality in an agroecosytem is considerably influenced by land use and management practices. Twenty two potential soil quality indicators were used to assess the effects of five different land use types (arable land, plantation, agroforestry, marginal land and native forest) on soil quality in Akufo and Atan farm settlements in Ibadan, southwestern Nigeria. A total of sixty-two fields were selected from which soil samples were taken at a depth of 0-15 cm and subjected to laboratory analysis. Majority of the evaluated physicochemical properties varied significantly among the land uses and whereas native land performed relatively better for most of the observed attributes, arable and marginal lands performed worse. Due to the moderate to strong significant correlation among the potential indicators, they were subjected to principal component analysis and only seven indicators were selected to compute the soil quality index (SQI). In both Akufo and Atan, native land had the highest SQI (0.8250 and 0.860 respectively) which was significantly different (P = .05) from all the agricultural land uses, except plantation (0.739 and 0.750 respectively). Whereas marginal field in Atan was most degraded (SQI = 0.455), it was closely followed by arable fields in both locations. This study indicates that the current agricultural land use and soil management practices in Akufo and Atan farm settlements have negatively impacted soil quality; however, the degree of degradation was strongly influenced by the concentration of soil organic carbon in the understudied land use systems. It also emphasizes the need to promote the use of sustainable management practices among agricultural land users, so as to increase soil organic carbon stock, and improve soil quality and land productivity.


2017 ◽  
pp. 55-66
Author(s):  
Jessa May Malanguis ◽  
Cheryl Batistel ◽  
Marlito Jose Bande

Land use conversion affects soil ecosystem quality and balance, which can be reflected by microbial activities. This study was conducted to assess the effectiveness of microbial respiration as indicator of soil quality of different land uses, reforestation site, agricultural land and grassland, in Cienda, Gabas, Baybay City, Leyte. The amount of CO2 evolved after one, three and seven days of incubation was used to determine microbial respiration rate of different land uses and across relief. Relationship between microbial respiration on pH, organic matter, total nitrogen, and moisture content at field capacity were also examined. Results revealed that microbial respiration varies significantly among land uses with the highest rate observed in grassland while the lowest was in the reforestation site. Across relief, amount of CO2 released was significantly higher in the lower slope compared to the upper and the middle. The process tends to be significantly influenced by soil organic matter and moisture content. Results suggest that there is an inverse relationship between microbial respiration and organic matter, and a direct relationship with moisture content. High soil respiration in the grassland and in the lower topographic relief implies that the soil organic matter is converted into inorganic forms which are available for uptake by plants. A significant interaction between land use types and relief was also observed in both organic matter and moisture content leading enhanced microbial respiration. Land use and relief showed no significant effect on total nitrogen and soil pH.


2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 617-638 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. E. Masto ◽  
S. Sheik ◽  
G. Nehru ◽  
V. A. Selvi ◽  
J. George ◽  
...  

Abstract. Assessment of soil quality is one of the key parameters for evaluation of environmental contamination in the mining ecosystem. To investigate the effect of coal mining on soil quality, opencast and underground mining sites were selected in the Raniganj Coafield area, India. The physical, chemical, biological parameters, heavy metals, and PAHs contents of the soils were evaluated. Soil dehydrogenase (+79%) and fluorescein (+32%) activities were significantly higher in underground mine (UGM) soil, whereas peroxidase activity (+57%) was higher in opencast mine (OCM) soil. Content of As, Be, Co, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, and Pb was significantly higher in OCM soil, whereas, Cd was higher in UGM. In general, the PAHs contents were higher in UGM soils probably due to the natural coal burning in these sites. The observed values for the above properties were converted into a unit less score (0–1.00) and the scores were integrated into environmental soil quality index (ESQI). In the unscreened index (ESQI-1) all the soil parameters were included and the results showed that the quality of the soil was better for UGM (0.539) than the OCM (0.511) soils. Principal component analysis was employed to derive ESQI-2 and accordingly, total PAHs, loss on ignition, bulk density, Be, Co, Cr, Ni, Pb, and microbial quotient (respiration: microbial biomass ratio) were found to be the most critical properties. The ESQI-2 was also higher for soils near UGM (+10.1%). The proposed ESQI may be employed to monitor soil quality changes due to anthropogenic interventions.


2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pramod Ghimire ◽  
Balram Bhatta ◽  
Basudev Pokhrel ◽  
Ishu Shrestha

Soil quality is the capacity of soil to sustain biological productivity and environmental quality. Assessment of soil quality in different land use systems is essential as inappropriate land use management can degrade and deteriorate its function and stability. In this regard this study was carried out to evaluate soil quality of different land use types in Chure region of central Nepal. Soil quality index (SQI) was determined on the basis of the soil physiochemical parameters. Soil properties like soil pH, organic matter (OM), total nitrogen (TN), available potassium (AK), and available phosphorous (AP) were significantly affected by land uses types. Forest soil had the highest soil quality index (0.82) followed by bari (0.66), khet (0.64), and degraded land (0.40). Of the soil properties studied, total nitrogen and soil organic matter had the determining role in making significant impacts in the SQI among the different land uses. Hence, the results of this study can be important tool for planner, policy makers, and scientific community to frame appropriate land use management strategy.


Solid Earth ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 811-821 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. E. Masto ◽  
S. Sheik ◽  
G. Nehru ◽  
V. A. Selvi ◽  
J. George ◽  
...  

Abstract. Assessment of soil quality is one of the key parameters for evaluation of environmental contamination in the mining ecosystem. To investigate the effect of coal mining on soil quality, opencast and underground mining sites were selected in the Raniganj coalfield area, India. The physical, chemical, and biological parameters of the soils, and trace metals and PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) in the soils were evaluated. Soil dehydrogenase (+79 %) and fluorescein (+32 %) activities were significantly higher in underground mine (UGM) soil, whereas peroxidase activity (+57 %) was higher in opencast mine (OCM) soil. Content of As, Be, Co, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, and Pb was significantly higher in OCM soil, whereas Cd was higher in UGM. In general, the PAHs contents were higher in UGM soils, probably due to the natural coal burning at these sites. The observed values for the above properties were converted into a unitless score (0–1.00) and the scores were integrated into an environmental soil quality index (ESQI). In the unscreened index (ESQI-1) all the soil parameters were included and the results showed that the quality of the soil was better for UGM (0.539) than the OCM (0.511) soils. Principal component analysis was employed to derive ESQI-2 and accordingly, total PAHs, loss on ignition, bulk density, Be, Co, Cr, Ni, Pb, and microbial quotient (respiration: microbial biomass ratio) were found to be the most critical properties. The ESQI-2 was also higher for soils near UGM (+10.1 %). The observed indicators and the ESQI results revealed that soil quality assessment for these coal mining soils is largely depended on soil PAHs and potentially toxic trace metals. The proposed ESQI may be further refined by incorporating specific parameters related to human exposure risks and exposure pathways.


Author(s):  
Lucia Santorufo ◽  
Valeria Memoli ◽  
Speranza Claudia Panico ◽  
Francesco Esposito ◽  
Luca Vitale ◽  
...  

Anthropization often leads to land use transformation, causing deep changes to soil properties and its quality. Land use change could be an environmental and socioeconomic problem, as it impacts soil quality and ecosystem services. There is an urgent need to understand the pressures affecting soil quality. The aim of the work is to quantify the impact of different land uses on soil abiotic and biotic properties and on its quality. To achieve the aims, soils from different land uses (forest, urban and agricultural) were collected in the surroundings of Naples and analyzed for pH, water content, contents of C and N, C/N ratio and total and available concentrations of Cu, Ni and Pb, microbial and fungal biomasses, basal respiration and metabolic quotient. Then, a soil quality index (SQI) was calculated for each land use. The results showed that soil abiotic and biotic properties of the agricultural sites differed from those of forest and urban sites. At agricultural sites, microbial abundances decreased due to low amount of C and N and to high amount of Cu and Pb. This caused low use efficiency of energetic substrates and a reduced soil quality of agricultural sites as compared to forest and urban sites.


2021 ◽  
Vol 94 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-109
Author(s):  
Gaurav Mishra ◽  
Jesús Rodrigo-Comino

n the Northeast Himalayas (NEH) region, four major conventional land-use types are forest, Jhum lands, fallow Jhum lands and plantations, but little is known about their sustainability and responses to changes. We collected soil samples at two uniform depths (0-15 and 15-30 cm) from the Zunheboto district of Nagaland (India). The dataset was statistically analyzed by conducting an ANOVA-one way, principal component analysis (PCA) and calculating an additive soil quality index (SQIa). Our results confirmed that sand content, bulk density (BD), porosity, soil organic carbon (SOC), cation exchange capacity (CEC), exchangeable calcium and potassium showed significant statistical differences among soil depths depending on the land use management. PCA results showed that soil texture, BD, porosity, SOC and exchangeable cations could be consideredthe major indicators to define soil quality. After estimating the SQIa, Jhum soils showed the highest values at the surface, while at 15-30 cm soil depth, fallow Jhum soils phase showed the highest ones. The conversion from natural forest to plantation does not hamper the SQ, but their conversion into Jhum may even increase it, for a shorter duration. However, after 1-2 year of cultivation and conversion from Jhum into fallow Jhum land, soil quality could be reduced.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 1398
Author(s):  
Tavjot Kaur ◽  
Simerpreet Kaur Sehgal ◽  
Satnam Singh ◽  
Sandeep Sharma ◽  
Salwinder Singh Dhaliwal ◽  
...  

The present study was conducted to investigate the seasonal effects of five land use systems (LUSs), i.e., wheat–rice (Triticum aestivum—Oryza sativa) system, sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum), orange (Citrus sinensis) orchard, safeda (Eucalyptus globules) forest, and grassland, on soil quality and nutrient status in the lower Satluj basin of the Shiwalik foothills Himalaya, India. Samples were analyzed for assessment of physico-chemical properties at four soil depths, viz., 0–15, 15–30, 30–45, and 45–60 cm. A total of 120 soil samples were collected in both the seasons. Soil texture was found to be sandy loam and slightly alkaline in nature. The relative trend of soil organic carbon (SOC), macro- and micro-nutrient content for the five LUSs was forest > orchard > grassland > wheat–rice > sugarcane, in the pre- and post-monsoon seasons. SOC was highly correlated with macronutrients and micronutrients, whereas SOC was negatively correlated with soil pH (r = −0.818). The surface soil layer (0–15 cm) had a significantly higher content of SOC, and macro- and micro-nutrients compared to the sub-surface soil layers, due to the presence of more organic content in the soil surface layer. Tukey’s multiple comparison test was applied to assess significant difference (p < 0.05) among the five LUSs at four soil depths in both the seasons. Principle component analysis (PCA) identified that SOC and electrical conductivity (EC) were the most contributing soil indicators among the different land use systems, and that the post-monsoon season had better soil quality compared to the pre-monsoon season. These indicators helped in the assessment of soil health and fertility, and to monitor degraded agroecosystems for future soil conservation.


Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 627
Author(s):  
Duong H. Nong ◽  
An T. Ngo ◽  
Hoa P. T. Nguyen ◽  
Thuy T. Nguyen ◽  
Lan T. Nguyen ◽  
...  

We analyzed the agricultural land-use changes in the coastal areas of Tien Hai district, Thai Binh province, in 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2020, using Landsat 5 and Landsat 8 data. We used the object-oriented classification method with the maximum likelihood algorithm to classify six types of land uses. The series of land-use maps we produced had an overall accuracy of more than 80%. We then conducted a spatial analysis of the 5-year land-use change using ArcGIS software. In addition, we surveyed 150 farm households using a structured questionnaire regarding the impacts of climate change on agricultural productivity and land uses, as well as farmers’ adaptation and responses. The results showed that from 2005 to 2020, cropland decreased, while aquaculture land and forest land increased. We observed that the most remarkable decreases were in the area of rice (485.58 ha), the area of perennial crops (109.7 ha), and the area of non-agricultural land (747.35 ha). The area of land used for aquaculture and forest increased by 566.88 ha and 772.60 ha, respectively. We found that the manifestations of climate change, such as extreme weather events, saltwater intrusion, drought, and floods, have had a profound impact on agricultural production and land uses in the district, especially for annual crops and aquaculture. The results provide useful information for state authorities to design land-management strategies and solutions that are economic and effective in adapting to climate change.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document