Establishment of Relationship between Different Important Properties of Soils Under Various Land Use Systems and the Impact of Shifting Cultivation on Longleng Soil of Nagaland

The current practice of shifting cultivation in Longleng district of Nagaland is an extravagant and unscientific form of land use, it has become unsustainable today primarily due to reduced jhuming cycle (2–3 years) leading to soil degradation and ecological imbalance. An investigation was undertaken to evaluate the impact of shifting cultivation on physico-chemical properties of soils over different land use systems viz. agriculture, agri-horti-silvi-pastoral, forestry, livestock based land use, natural fallow and shifting cultivation on some physico-chemical properties of soils with an objective to recommend the most suitable alternative land use systems for maintenance of soil physicochemical properties. The adoption of modified land use systems like agri-horti-silvi-pastoral significantly increased the available nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and sulphur 250.9, 6.3, 132.7 and 20.3 (kg ha⁻¹) respectively over the shifting cultivation N, P, K and S 188.2, 4.3, 71.8 and 9.1 (kg ha⁻¹) respectively. On the basis of the soil depths the data revealed that the surface soil showed the higher soil pH and SOC content (6.49) and (2.00%) respectively as compared to sub surface soil pH and SOC (6.23) and (1.90%) respectively. The data revealed that soils of Longleng are strong to moderately acidic in reaction. On the basis of the parameters investigated, agri-horti-silvi-pastoral system appeared to be the most suitable for improving the soil physico-chemical properties in Longleng district of Nagaland.