SOIL QUALITY OF AGRICULTURAL LANDS: A STUDY IN LORALAI DISTRICT, BALOCHISTAN, PAKISTAN

Abstract

Loralai is the district of Balochistan, Pakistan. Climate of this region is arid and farmers rely on rainfall and groundwater irrigation. In this study, seven orchards, seven croplands, two farms under tree-based intercropping were sampled for soil organic matter (SOM) and soil macrofauna. These farms have diverse management history and are of various ages since under agricultural practices. The soil organic matter in upper soil layer (0-10 cm depth) of orchards was 30% higher (18.9 ± 6.3 g kg-1 soil) than croplands (13.2 ± 2.9 g kg-1 soil; P < 0.05). The highest concentration of SOM was found in the soil of diversified tree-based intercropping field (26.07±1.35 g kg-1 soil) with the history of 10 years of conservation agriculture (shallow tillage with organic and inorganic fertilizer input) and crop rotation with no fallow period. The total number of macrofauna and number of species of macrofauna was also found higher in diversified tree-based intercropping system. In general, number of soil fauna was higher in the orchards (5.25 ± 3.3 per site sampled) than croplands (2 ± 0.81 per site sampled). This study demonstrates that diversified agro-ecosystem under conservation agriculture in this arid region enhanced concentration of SOM and number and species of soil macrofauna.