A comparison of two soil quality assessment methods in relation to crop production and other ecological services in tropical Central India Rajendiran S.1,*, Dotaniya M.L.2, Coumar M. Vassanda, Kundu S., Sinha N.K., Tripathi A.K., Srivastava S., Saha J.K., Patra A.K. ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil Science, Nabibagh, Berasia Road, Bhopal, 462038, Madhya Pradesh, India 1Present address: Central Horticultural Experiment Station (ICAR-IIHR), Chettalli, 571248, Kodagu, Karnataka, India 2ICAR-Directorate of Rapeseed-Mustard Research, Sewar, Bharatpur, 321303, Rajasthan, India *Corresponding author (Email: rajanselladurai@yahoo.co.in; rajendiran.s@icar.gov.in)
Online Published on 10 January, 2023. Abstract Soil quality degradation is a major threat to crop production. Therefore, periodic evaluation of soil quality status of a production system is inevitable for adopting sustainable management interventions. The soil quality status of tribal areas of central India is not known and there is no standard soil quality assessment method developed for these areas. Therefore, in this study, it is aimed to evaluate soil quality of tropical central India by adopting expert opinion method (EOM) and advanced inclusive method (AIM) and relating them with production functions and other ecological services. In total 1860 soil samples were collected across Jhabua, Alirajpur, and Dhar districts of Madhya Pradesh and analyzed. Nearly 15 soil physical, chemical and biological parameters were used for soil quality index (SQI) calculation. Weight and scores were given to each indicators following EOM. In case of AIM, weight to each indicator assigned based on its correlation with yield, degree of variation and per cent deficiency. The SQI, relative SQI (RSQI) and relative yield (RY) were calculated. The RSQIs were related with the RYs using linear regression model. Based on RSQI values of AIM and EOM, distribution of poor quality soils were of 66.3 and 77.2% for Jhabua, 84.8 and 85.4% for Alirajpur, 69.0 and 67.2% for Dhar, respectively. None of the soils in the region had very good soil quality status. Between two methods, AIM had advantage over EOM and it focuses interlinking soil threats, soil function and ecological services. In conclusion, soil quality in the study area is highly degraded and adoption of sustainable soil management practices could improve soil quality and crop productivity of the study area. Top Keywords Soil quality assessment, Crop yield, Soil functions, Soil threats, Soil ecological services. Top |