Main Article Content
Abstract
Soil quality degradation is a major threat to any agricultural production system. Therefore periodical monitoring of soil quality status is inevitable for sustainable management of agricultural production systems. Though there are various methods available to assess the soil quality, simple and management oriented methods are necessary. The current investigation aimed to evaluate soil quality of tribal areas of central India adopting minimum dataset of 15 soil physical, chemical and biological parameters. A novel scoring technique was followed to score soil quality indicators based on its relation with crop yield, degree of variation and percent deficiency. Relative soil quality index (RSQI) was calculated and was correlated with crop productivity. Most of the soils in the region had poor soil quality (77.2% in Jhabua, 85.4% in Alirajpur and 67.2% in Dhar) with low crop yield. The major constraints of crop production in these areas were low soil organic carbon (<0.5%), available N (<280 kg ha-1), S (<10 mg kg-1), P (<10 kg ha-1), Zn (<0.5 mg kg-1), dehydogenase activity (10 ?g TPF g-1 24 h-1) and soil depth (<1 m). Adopting sustainable management practices could improve soil quality and crop productivity. This new approach is simple and systematic; this principle can be easily adoptable to other locations, and principally focuses on management related and soil parameters that constraint to production and ecological functions.
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References
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- Mahajan,G., Das,B., Morajkar,S., Desai,A., Murgaokar,D., Kulkarni,R., Sale,R., & Patel,K. (2020). Soil quality assessment of coastal salt-affected acid soils of India.Environment Science and Pollution Research,27:26221-26238. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-09010-w
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- Nayak ,A.K., Shahid,M., Nayak,A.D.,Dhal,B., Moharana,K.C., Mondal,B., Tripathi,R., Mohapatra,S.D., Bhattacharyya,P., Jambhulkar, N.N., Shukla, A.K., Fitton ,N., Smith, P., &Pathak,H. (2019). Assessment of ecosystem services of rice farms in eastern India. Ecological Processes, 8:35-50. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13717-019-0189-1
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- Shukla,A. K., &Behera,S.K.(2012).Micronutrient fertilizers and higher productivity. Indian Journal of Fertilisers, 8:100-117.
- Singh,A.K. (2007). Evaluation of soil quality under integrated nutrient management. Journal of the Indian Society of Soil Science, 55:58-61.
- Srinivasarao,CH., Venkateswarlu,B., Lal,R., Singh, A.K., & Kundu,S. (2013). Sustainable management of soils of dryland ecosystems of India for enhancing agronomic productivity and sequestering carbon. Advances in Agronomy, 121:253-329. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-407685-3.00005-0
- Vasu,D., Singh,S.K., Ray,S.K., Duraisami,V.P., Tiwary,P., Chandran,P., Nimkar, A.M.&Anantwar,S.G.(2016).Soil quality index (SQI) as a tool to evaluate crop productivity in semi-arid Deccan plateau, India. Geoderma,282:70-79. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2016.07.010
- Velayutham, M., Mandal, D.K.,Mandal C., & Sehgal, J. (1999). Agro-Ecological Sub-Regions of India for Planning and Development. ICAR-National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning, Nagpur.
- Wang, X.J. &Gong, Z.T. (1998). Assessment and analysis of soil quality changes after eleven years of reclamation in subtropical China. Geoderma,81:339-355. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0016-7061(97)00109-2
References
Andrews,S.S., Karlen,D.L., &Cambardella,C.A.(2004). The soil management assessment framework: A quantitative soil quality evaluation method. Soil ScienceSociety America Journal,68:1945-1962. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2136/sssaj2004.1945
Baveye,P.C., Baveye,J.,&Gowdy, J. (2016)). Soil “ecosystem” services and natural capital: critical appraisal of research on uncertain ground. Frontiers in Environmental Science, 4:1-49. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2016.00041
Brussaard,L.(2012).Ecosystem services provided by the soil biota. In. D.H.Wall, R.D.Bardgett, V.Behan-Pelletier, J.E.Herrick, H.Jones, K.Ritz, J.Six, D.R.Strong, &W.H. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199575923.003.0005
van der Putten (eds.), Soil Ecology and Ecosystem Services, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK., pp: 45-58.
Bunemann,E.K., Bongiorno,G., Bai,Z., Creamer,R.E., De Deyn,G., De Goede,R., Fleskens,L., Geissen,V., Kuyper,T.W., Mader,P., Pulleman,M., Sukkel,W., Groenigen,J.W.V., &Brussaard, L.(2018). Soil quality – A critical review. Soil Biology and Biochemisstry, 120:105-125. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2018.01.030
Hillel,D.(2003).Introduction to Environmental Soil Physics, first ed. Academic Press, London.
Kundu,S., Vassanda Coumar,M., Saha,J.K., Rajendiran,S., Hati,K.M., Biswas,A.K., Reddy,K. S., &Subba Rao,A.(2012). Assessing soil health of vertisol of AESR10.1 using selected physical, chemical and biological attributes of soils. Journal of the Indian Society of Soil Science, 60:281-287.
Lal,R.(2004). Soil carbon sequestration impacts on global climate change and food security. Science, 304:1623-11627. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1097396
Mahajan,G., Das,B., Morajkar,S., Desai,A., Murgaokar,D., Kulkarni,R., Sale,R., & Patel,K. (2020). Soil quality assessment of coastal salt-affected acid soils of India.Environment Science and Pollution Research,27:26221-26238. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-09010-w
Masto,R.E., Chhonkar,P.K., Singh,D., &Patra, A.K. (2008).Alternative soil quality indices for evaluating the effect of intensive cropping, fertilisation and manuring for 31 years in the semi-arid soils of India. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment,136:419-435. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-007-9697-z
NAAS. (2017).Mitigating Land Degradation due to Water Erosion. Policy Paper No. 88 National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, New Delhi.
NAAS. (2012).Sustaining Agricultural Productivity through IntegratedSoil Management. Policy Paper No. 56, National Academy ofAgricultural Sciences, New Delhi.
NAAS. (2006).Low and Declining Crop Response to Fertilizers. Policy Paper No. 35, National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, New Delhi.
Nayak ,A.K., Shahid,M., Nayak,A.D.,Dhal,B., Moharana,K.C., Mondal,B., Tripathi,R., Mohapatra,S.D., Bhattacharyya,P., Jambhulkar, N.N., Shukla, A.K., Fitton ,N., Smith, P., &Pathak,H. (2019). Assessment of ecosystem services of rice farms in eastern India. Ecological Processes, 8:35-50. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13717-019-0189-1
Parker,F.W., Nelson,W.L., Eric,W., &Miller,I.E. (1951). The broad interpretation of soil test information. Agronomy Journal, 43:105-102. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2134/agronj1951.00021962004300030001x
Shukla,A. K., &Behera,S.K.(2012).Micronutrient fertilizers and higher productivity. Indian Journal of Fertilisers, 8:100-117.
Singh,A.K. (2007). Evaluation of soil quality under integrated nutrient management. Journal of the Indian Society of Soil Science, 55:58-61.
Srinivasarao,CH., Venkateswarlu,B., Lal,R., Singh, A.K., & Kundu,S. (2013). Sustainable management of soils of dryland ecosystems of India for enhancing agronomic productivity and sequestering carbon. Advances in Agronomy, 121:253-329. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-407685-3.00005-0
Vasu,D., Singh,S.K., Ray,S.K., Duraisami,V.P., Tiwary,P., Chandran,P., Nimkar, A.M.&Anantwar,S.G.(2016).Soil quality index (SQI) as a tool to evaluate crop productivity in semi-arid Deccan plateau, India. Geoderma,282:70-79. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2016.07.010
Velayutham, M., Mandal, D.K.,Mandal C., & Sehgal, J. (1999). Agro-Ecological Sub-Regions of India for Planning and Development. ICAR-National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning, Nagpur.
Wang, X.J. &Gong, Z.T. (1998). Assessment and analysis of soil quality changes after eleven years of reclamation in subtropical China. Geoderma,81:339-355. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0016-7061(97)00109-2