Physicochemical properties of soil under different land use practices located near Bhawanipatna town in Odisha, India

Soil physicochemical parameters provide basic assessing tool to study the soil health condition and also forms the base for biological activity in soil. Soil quality is likely to be disrupted during change in land use practices. Keeping this in view a work was undertaken to determine the physicochemical properties of soil under different land use practices (viz. forest land, pasture land, sugarcane field and rice field) located near Bhawanipatna town of Odisha, India. The work was carried out in 3 seasons viz. pre monsoon, monsoon and post monsoon during April 2013 to November 2013. The results of the physicochemical parameters revealed high soil temperature in the pasture (37.83°C) and low soil temperature in forest land (27.83°C). On the other hand the moisture content was high in the rice (27.97%) and sugarcane field (20.68%) than that of forest (14.15%) and pasture land (8.67%). The soil pH was found to be minimum (6.45) in rice field and maximum pH (8.10) in forest land, whereas, the highest conductivity was measured in the pasture land (379.50μS/cm) and the lowest conductivity was measured in the sugarcane field (76.1μS/cm). The organic carbon and organic matter contents was in the order: forest land (2.73, 4.71%) > sugarcane field (2.59, 4.47%) > rice field (2.43, 4.19%) > pasture land (1.08, 1.86%). However, the results with the NPK assessment were variable and were in the following order in case of N: pasture land (82 mg/kg) > sugarcane field (75.33 mg/kg) > rice field (55 mg/kg) > forest land (38.33 mg/kg), in case of P: rice field (99.83 mg/kg) > sugarcane field (88.33 mg/kg) > forest land (59 mg/kg) > pasture land (51.67 mg/kg) and in case of K: forest land (0.141 mg/g) > pasture land (0.134 mg/g) > rice field (0.086 mg/g) > sugarcane field (0.078 mg/g). The results, however revealed an insignificant variation in physicochemical parameters indicating a very little or no degradation in soil quality of man engineered agro-ecosystems (sugarcane field, rice field and pasture land) as compared to natural ecosystem like forest land till today. However, to check deterioration of soil quality in long run, proper soil management with sustainable agricultural practices is urgently needed in the human interfered ecosystems.