Effect of vermicompost on soil quality parameters for different land use patterns

Abstract

Abstract Extensive industrialization, urbanization, and excessive use of chemicals in agricultural practices have caused soil quality depletion and reduced its nutritional value. In this context, the present study aimed to evaluate the effect of vermicompost (VC) on different soil properties such as pH, electrical conductivity, soil organic carbon, soil organic matter, total phosphorus, and bulk density to understand the soil enrichment for different land use patterns i.e., agriculture soil (AS), forest soil (FS) and barren soil (BS). The collected soil samples were mixed with VC in different proportions (1:1, 1:2, 1:3, 1:4, and 1:5) and analyzed in terms of aforementioned parameters. Among the investigated soils, the highest microbial biomass was observed for FS samples and noted in the range of 6 – 8 mg/gm of soil. All the original soils, supplemented samples, and VC were also subjected to plant growth analysis. The soil quality index (SQI) was determined using principal component analysis for selected soil samples and resulted mixtures obtained from soil and various proportions of VC. Among all samples, highest SQI was observed as 0.785 for VC. Overall, the result of the study showed that vermicompost can be a potential substitute of chemical fertilizers, thus improving the soil quality and crop yield.