Impact of land-use systems on fertility parameters and deterioration indices of soil in the sub humid Southern Plains of Rajasthan, India

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