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

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  • Bharat Bhushan Vashisht

    (Department of Soil Science, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab 141004, India)

  • Bijesh Maharjan

    (Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Panhandle Research and Extension Center (PREC), Scottsbluff, NE 69361, USA)

  • Sandeep Sharma

    (Department of Soil Science, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab 141004, India)

  • Samanpreet Kaur

    (Department of Soil and Water Engineering, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab 141004, India)

Abstract

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Bharat Bhushan Vashisht & Bijesh Maharjan & Sandeep Sharma & Samanpreet Kaur, 2020. "Soil Quality and Its Potential Indicators under Different Land Use Systems in the Shivaliks of Indian Punjab," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-13, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:8:p:3490-:d:350108
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Middleton, H. E., 1930. "Properties of Soils Which Influence Soil Erosion," Technical Bulletins 159441, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
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    Cited by:

    1. Ustaoglu, E. & Sisman, S. & Aydınoglu, A.C., 2021. "Determining agricultural suitable land in peri-urban geography using GIS and Multi Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) techniques," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 455(C).
    2. Tavjot Kaur & Simerpreet Kaur Sehgal & Satnam Singh & Sandeep Sharma & Salwinder Singh Dhaliwal & Vivek Sharma, 2021. "Assessment of Seasonal Variability in Soil Nutrients and Its Impact on Soil Quality under Different Land Use Systems of Lower Shiwalik Foothills of Himalaya, India," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-16, January.
    3. Kirti Saurabh & Rakesh Kumar & Janki Sharan Mishra & Anil Kumar Singh & Surajit Mondal & Ram Swaroop Meena & Jaipal Singh Choudhary & Ashis Kumar Biswas & Manoj Kumar & Himadri Shekhar Roy & Nongmaith, 2022. "Sustainable Intensification of Rice Fallows with Oilseeds and Pulses: Effects on Soil Aggregation, Organic Carbon Dynamics, and Crop Productivity in Eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-19, September.

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