Soil properties under different land use systems of Mizoram, North East India

Abstract

Changes in land use and improper soil management have led to severe land degradation around the globe through the modification in soil physicochemical and biological processes. This study aimed to assess the soil properties of different land use system types. Soil samples (0-15 cm depth) were collected from five land uses; Rubber Plantation (RP), Oil Palm Plantation (OPP), Bamboo Forest (BF), Fallow Land (FL) and Natural Forest (NF) and analyzed for bulk density, soil texture, soil pH, soil moisture, soil carbon, total nitrogen, ammonium, nitrate, soil microbial biomass carbon, soil respiration. Soil pH was lower than 4.9 in all the sites indicating that the surface soil was highly acidic. Soil organic carbon (SOC) and total nitrogen (TN) values ranged from 2.02% to 2.81% and 0.22% to 0.3% respectively. Soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN) and soil microbial biomass (SMBC) were highly affected by soil moisture. NH4+-N and NO3--N ranged from 5.6 mg kg-1 to 10.2 mg kg-1 and 1.15 mg kg-1 to 2.81 mg kg-1 respectively. NF soils showed the maximum soil microbial biomass carbon (SMBC) whereas the minimum was observed in BF with values ranging from 340 mg kg-1 to 345 mg kg-1. Basal respiration was highest in RP (375 mg CO2 m-2 hr-1) and lowest in BF (224 mg CO2 m-2 hr-1). The findings demonstrated significant effect (p<0.05) of land use change on soil nutrient status and organic matter. Findings also indicated that land use change deteriorated native soil physicochemical and biological properties, but that land restoration practices through longer fallow period (>10 years) likely are successful in promoting the recovery of some soil characteristics.

Impact of land use changes on soil quality and species diversity in the Vindhyan dry tropical region of India

“…There was also a decrease in CL, but in CL external water supply through irrigation was given time to time to maintain soil moisture, whereas porosity and waterholding capacity decreased drastically. An increase in bulk density as a result of conversion of forest to CL and DL is an indication of the level of soil degradation and has been demonstrated by many researchers (Guilser 2006, Manpoong & Tripathi 2019, Singh et al 2009. High bulk density is a reflection of low soil porosity and soil compaction.…”

“…Soil organic carbon (SOC) is an important component of the global carbon cycle and there is significant variation in SOC with LUC (Ali et al 2017, Maurya et al 2014. SOC drastically decreases as natural forest is converted into plantation or other LUC (Guillaume et al 2015, Manpoong & Tripathi, 2019.…”

Soil carbon stock in different land-use systems in the hilly terrain of Mizoram, Northeast India

“…The lowest soil C stock in TP, HG and HORT could be due to low organic matter inputs through the existing vegetation. Several workers have reported that natural forests store more carbon than any other terrestrial ecosystem, thereby representing a significant carbon pool for the global carbon budget (Manpoong and Tripathi, 2019;Yang et al, 2018;Haghdoost et al, 2013 (2009) argued that about 60% of soil C in tropical soils is stored within 0-15 cm soil depth. However, TP, HORT and NF recorded the maximum soil C stock at 20-30 cm soil depth, possibly due to higher bulk densities.…”

“…Conversion of cropland to pasture land, tree plantation and secondary forest has shown a significant increase in soil carbon stock (Guo and Gifford, 2002). Losses in soil carbon caused by the conversion of natural to cultivated vegetation are well documented (Manpoong and Tripathi, 2019;Yan et al, 2012). Globally, 24% of the soil carbon is lost through forest conversion to cropland (Wei et al, 2014).…”

“…Land -use change is one of the major change processes and has altered the structure and functioning of forest ecosystems in the region. Tropical and subtropical forests of Mizoram are significantly shrinking due to change in land use pattern, particularly shifting cultivation and plantations which pro-foundly affects soil properties (Manpoong and Tripathi, 2019;Ovung et al, 2020). An increase in forest cover in certain areas is due to regeneration of bamboo species and other plantations (Forest Survey Report, 2017).…”