Effect of different land use pattern on soil characteristics, microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen in red soils of Vikarabad district

This study is aimed to determine the impact of different land use patterns i.e., forest land, 100% cropping intensity (redgram-fallow), 200% cropping intensity (rice-rice) and fallow land on soil microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen. A survey was conducted in the year (2019–20 and 2020–21) in red soils of Vikarabad district covering eight mandals and soil samples were collected from four different land use pattern at two depths (0–15 and 15-30cm). Soil characteristics like bulk density, pH, EC, organic carbon, total nitrogen varied significantly with land use patterns and soil depth was significantly higher in forest soils compared to other land use patterns. The mean microbial biomass carbon was 242.8 mg kg⁻¹, 128.1 mg kg⁻¹, 119.0 mg kg⁻¹, 69.0 mg kg⁻¹and the mean soil microbial nitrogen was 35.6 mg kg⁻¹, 21.9 mg kg⁻¹, 17.7 mg kg⁻¹ and 11.0 mg kg⁻¹ respectively for forest, 100% and 200% cropping intensity and fallow land. There was significant positive correlation of microbial biomass carbon with per cent clay (0.998**), soil organic carbon (0.992**), total nitrogen (0.984**) and microbial biomass nitrogen (0.997**). The results confirm that alterations in soil physical and chemical properties due to deforestation and intense anthropogenic activity at agriculture lands may cause disturbances and ultimately affect the soil microbial biomass.