Assessment of Soil Physico-Chemical Properties after Conversion of Sand Dunes into Arable Land in Hot Semi-Arid Climatic Conditions of Punjab

The study aimed to assess changes in soil organic carbon (SOC) stock and physico-chemical properties of soil in semi-arid regions after 30 years of continuous rice-wheat cultivation. The SOC stock in the surface soil enhanced by 279% and in the subsurface soil by 54% compared to the SOC stock in the sand dunes. Furthermore, in the topsoil, prolonged cultivation of the rice-wheat system resulted in an increase of 84%, 132%, 121%, and 377% in the levels of sulphur, zinc, copper, and iron, respectively. This enhancement was also evident in the subsoil, with respective increases of 35%, 81%, 6%, and 266% in sulphur, zinc, copper, and iron content. However, continuous cultivation of rice-wheat system resulted in depletion of available manganese by 62% in topsoil despite of the positive impacts of continuous rice-wheat cultivation. Therefore, further research is needed to study the changes in microbial flora, an important soil quality indicator, in order to gain more comprehensive and relevant information about the effects of continuous cultivation of different cropping systems on soil health.