Comparative Analysis of Soil Variables in Different Land Uses of the Shazand Watershed, Iran

Abstract

Different land uses affect physical, chemical and biological properties of the soil and hence change the quality of soil. However, limited researches have been conducted in due course on the basis of high resolution field surveying. Therefore, the current study aimed to evaluate the effects of land use types on different variables of the Shazand Watershed (Iran) with a calcareous soil in central semi-arid region of Iran with an area about 1740 km 2. Towards this, five different main land uses viz. irrigated farms, rain fed farms, rangelands, orchards and outcrops dominant areas were primarily selected. Some 140 soil samples were then taken from the top 30-cm of the soil from homogeneous units representing an area about ≥ one kmP 2 P and various soil properties such as sand, silt, clay, gravel, bulk density (BD), soil organic carbon (SOC), pH, electrical connectivity (EC), calcium carbonate (CaCOR 3 R), nitrogen (N) were analyzed. The findings indicated that land use types had no significant effect (P> 0.05) on different soil variables. Nevertheless, the SOC and CaCOR 3 R in irrigated farm with respective values of 0.69 and 29.88 % were found to be more than those of other land uses. It is suggested from the results that other factors of slope, elevation and micro-climate might affect inter-variation of the study soil variables. These findings can be used for designating proper soil management strategies in the study watershed.