Effect of different land uses on soil physical properties at different depth in a Mollisol

Abstract

The present study was undertaken to assess the effect of different land uses on physical properties in a Mollisol. The study area was located at Norman E. Borlaug Crop Research Centre, G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, which lies at 290 N latitude, 790 3’ E longitude and 243.84 m above the mean sea level altitude. The land use systems selected for study were S1 (rice – potato – okra), S2 (rice – pea (vegetable) – maize), S3 (sorghum multicut (fodder) – yellow sarson – black gram), S4 (rice – wheat – green gram), S5 (rice – berseem + oat + mustard (fodder) – maize + cowpea (fodder)), S6 (guava + lemon), S7 (poplar + turmeric), S8 (eucalyptus + turmeric), S9 (fallow (uncultivated land)). The soil sample collected from D1 (0-15 cm depth), D2 (15-30 cm depth), D3 (30-45 cm depth) and D4 (45-60 cm depth) for analysed soil physical properties (soil colour, soil texture, bulk density, particle density, porosity and water holding capacity). Among the different land use systems S9 treatment obtained significantly high value. The highest value of pH, EC, bulk density and water holding capacity were reported with D4 depth (7.59), with D1 depth (0.289 dSm-1), with D4 depth (1.47 g cm-3) and with D1 depth (55.47%), respectively. While the lowest value was observed with D1 depth (7.51), with D4 depth (0.244 dSm-1), with D1 depth (1.38 g cm-3) and with D4 depth (50.15%), respectively. Results indicated that soil under agroforestry based systems was found superior with respect to soil physical environment followed by field crops, horticultural crops and the uncultivated land.