Soil erodibility in relation to physical and physico-chemical characteristics of some submontane soils of Punjab

A field experiment under natural and simulated rainfall conditions was planned to estimate soil erodibility from easily measurable soil properties in the submontaneous tract of Punjab. The study was conducted at two locations under natural rainfall conditions and at four locations under simulated rainfall conditions with four land uses viz. barren, cultivated, grassland and forest land use at each location. Clay content, water stable aggregates (WSA), mean weight diameter (MWD), geometric mean weight diameter (GMD) and organic carbon (OC) were observed to be negatively correlated with soil loss and soil erodibility (K) values. However, exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP) was found to be positively correlated with soilloss and K values both under natural and simulated rainfall conditions. Multiple correlation analysis involving clay content, OC, ESP and WSA explained 93 and 66 per cent variability under natural and simulated rainfall conditions, respectively.