Abstract
Different land use systems can have different soil properties. It is important to study the soil properties for wise use and sustainable management of land resources. This article reports the findings of a research conducted in Makwanpur district of Nepal, to determine and compare the selected physicochemical and hydrological properties of soil in forest, rainfed agriculture land, and grassland. These forest, agriculture land, and grassland represent tropical land use systems. Soil samples were collected from 0 to 30 cm depths of soil profile from nine randomly distributed pits dug in forest, grassland, and rainfed agriculture land in 2019. Soil samples were analyzed in the laboratory to determine the soil properties using standard methods. Bulk density, porosity, moisture content and infiltration, pH, total nitrogen, available potassium, and available phosphorus were quantified from the soils samples. It was found that the highest BD was found in the grassland (1.29 g/cm³) followed by the forest (1.23 g/cm³) and rainfed agriculture land (1.18 g/cm³). The highest porosity was found in rainfed agriculture land (55.50%) followed by the forest (53.74%) and grassland (51.63%). The highest MC was found in the grassland (26.94%) followed by the forest (10.17%) and rainfed agriculture land (9.92%). The mean cumulative infiltration amount was highest in the rainfed agriculture land (39.27 cm) followed by the forest (33.47 cm) and grassland (8.4 cm). The highest soil pH was found in the grassland (7.91) and the lowest pH (5.70) in the forest. The highest level of total nitrogen was found in rainfed agriculture land (0.121%), followed by the forest (0.106%) and grassland (0.096%). The highest level of available phosphorous was found in rainfed agriculture land (84.94 ppm), followed by the forest (67.76 ppm) and grassland (6.69). The highest level of available potassium was found in rainfed agriculture land (154.24 ppm), followed by the forest (84.49 ppm) and the grassland (44.71 ppm). Bulk density, porosity, and total nitrogen were not found to be significantly different and other soil properties were found to be significantly different between different land use systems. The contribution of farmers in maintaining soil properties on the farmlands is clearly reflected in the results, so their knowledge on soil management needs to be explored and adapted for wise use and sustainable management of other land use systems.
Highlights
Soil is the substrate of all living organisms in the terrestrial ecosystems, which contains nutrient reserves and supports many biological processes in vegetation development
Bulk Density (BD). e highest Bulk density (BD) was found in the grassland (1.29 g/cm ) followed by the forest (1.23 g/cm ) and rainfed agriculture land (1.18 g/cm ), similar to the results of Muche et al [25], who reported that the highest average value of BD (1.2 gm/cm3) was obtained under the grazing land. e Analysis of variance (ANOVA) test shows that there was no significant difference of BD (p 0.637) between different land use systems at 5% level of significance (Table 1). e lowest BD of the rainfed agriculture land might be due to the loosening of soil due to frequent nonmechanized tillage operations. e highest BD of the grassland might be due to the regular grazing and movement of the humans on the ground which causes soil compaction [26]
Soil Porosity (SP). e highest porosity was found in rainfed agriculture land (55.50%) followed by the forest (53.74%) and grassland (51.63%). e ANOVA test shows that there was no significant difference of porosity (p 0.636) between different land use systems at 5% level of significance (Table 1)
Summary
Soil is the substrate of all living organisms in the terrestrial ecosystems, which contains nutrient reserves and supports many biological processes in vegetation development. Soil management systems and changes in land use strongly influence soil physical and chemical properties [11]. Ough knowledge on variation of soil properties is essential in devising proper land use planning, previous researches devoted to this topic are absent in Hetauda Submetropolitan area. E lack of such researches could be due to low priority of the developing nations in allocating research funds across wider geographic areas over time In this context, this study was carried out in topical land use systems to determine and compare the selected soil chemical and hydrological properties in forest soil, agriculture soil, and grassland soil in tropical region of Nepal
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