Changes in soil properties due to raising of elevation of lowland rice fields through land shaping in coastal saline soils of Sundarbans, West Bengal

Abstract

Soil samples were collected from upland developed through land shaping (done more than ten years ago) and adjacent original lowland rice fields located at Canning and Basanti Blocks in coastal region of Sundarbans in South 24 Parganas District of West Bengal, India. The elevated land (uplands) followed vegetable – vegetable/ field crop or perennial orchard cropping pattern, while original lowlands followed rice – fallow cropping pattern. The results indicated that there was a considerable change in physical and chemical properties of soil due to conversion of lowlands into uplands along with change in cropping pattern. The soil salinity of uplands showed remarkable decrease compared to original lowlands. The bulk density of upland soil reduced while porosity increased compared to original lowland soil. Phosphorus availability also increased to a great extent in upland soil.