Long term effects of organic land use systems on soil quality in a semi-arid climate of Punjab, India Kaur Jaskirandeep1,*, Singh Didar2 1Department of Soil Science, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana-141004, Punjab 2P.G. Department of Agriculture, Khalsa College, Amritsar, Punjab *Corresponding author : jaskirandeep-2016005@pau.edu
Online Published on 15 December, 2023. Abstract The impact of five long term (10 years) organic land use systems viz. agroforestry (Poplar + turmeric (LS1)), vegetables (bottle gourd – broccoli (LS2)), basmati – wheat (LS3), sugarcane fodder (LS4) and maize + summer moong–wheat (LS5) was studied on soil quality. Results showed that LS1 has significantly higher soil organic carbon (SOC) content, mean weight diameter (MWD) of aggregates and soil moisture retention. Significantly higher soil pH, saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks) and infiltration rate (IR) in LS4, bulk density (BD) in LS5 while significantly lower electrical conductivity (EC) in CS3 were observed. The LS1 has significantly better soil quality index (SQI) than all the other land use systems. The SQI was in the order of LS1 > LS2 > LS3=LS5> LS4. The order of overall contribution of MWD, particle density, soil moisture retention, Ks and IR to SQI was 45.3, 29.3, 16.6, 6.4 and 2.5% respectively. Top Keywords Mean weight diameter, Particle density, Soil organic carbon, Soil moisture retention, Soil quality index. Top |