Soil properties and erodibility status in relation to land uses in a Giri river micro-watershed in Solan district of Himachal Pradesh

Investigations were undertaken during 2011 for computing and comparing soil hydro-physical and chemical properties and erodibility status under different land uses (agricultural, orchard, scrub, agri-silvi-horti lands) in micro-watershed of Giri river catchment (Ga3a) in Solan district of Himachal Pradesh. Results revealed that soils of micro-watershed under all land uses were neutral in reaction, lighter in texture having gravely silt loam textural class. Among land uses, orchard soils had lowest bulk density and better aggregate stability. Water retention under different land uses followed the order: Orchard > agri-silvi-horti > agriculture > scrub lands. Soils were low in available N, very high in P and low to medium in K status. As per the erodibility indices viz., Dispersion ratio (DR), Erosion ratio (ER), Erodibility index (El), soils under all land uses were found erodible in nature but the orchard and agri-silvi-horti lands were less erodible than soils under agricultural and scrub lands and followed the order for the susceptibility to erosion: Scrubs > agriculture > Agri-silvi-horti > orchard land. There is a need to adopt suitable soil and water conservation measures in agricultural and orchard lands to sustain their health for sustaining the crop production by checking soil erodibility.