Effect of Soil Orders and Land Uses on Available Soil Nutrients in Meghalaya, India
Authors: Goswami Chandan , Singh Naorem Janaki , Handique Bijoy Krishna 
Published: April 2020

Understanding of spatial distribution of available soil nutrients is important for sustainable land management. An attempt has been made to assess the spatial distribution of available soil nutrients under different soil orders and land uses of RiBhoi, Meghalaya, India using geo-statistical techniques. Seven Land Use Land Cover (LULC) classes were selected from LULC map on 1:50,000 scale prepared by National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) viz. Abandoned Jhum (AJ), Current Jhum (CJ), Deciduous Forest (DF), Double Crop (DC), Evergreen Forest (EF), Kharif Crop (KC) and Wastelands (WL). Again, three soil orders were identified by National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning (NBSS&LUP) in RiBhoi district of Meghalaya, India viz. Alfisols, Inceptisols and Ultisols. 105 soil samples were collected, 5 replicated soil samples from 21 strata derived from 7 LULC and 3 soil orders. Soil samples were analyzed for available nitrogen (N), available phosphorus (P2O5), available potassium (K2O) and available zinc (Zn) using standard procedures. One way ANOVA was carried out using IBM SPSS Statistics 20.0 software. Significance levels were tested at p≤0.05.

N content varied from low (215.50 kg/ha) to medium (414.30 kg/ha) with mean value of 291.50 kg/ha. On the other hand, P2O5 content varied from low (19.90 kg/ha) to high (68.30 kg/ha) with mean value of 43.52 kg/ha. Similarly, K2O content varied from low (112.09 kg/ha) to high (567.84 kg/ha) with mean value of 273.68 kg/ha. Again, Zn also varied from low (0.26 ppm) to high (1.46 ppm) with mean value of 0.64 ppm.

In Alfisols, N was found to be higher in EF, AJ & CJ than DF, DC, KC and WL. KC has been found to have lower N than all other LULC classes. Higher P2O5 has been found under EF over KC and WL. AJ has been found to have higher K2O than all other LULC classes. K2O has also been found to be higher in CJ over DC, KC and WL. DF and EF have been found to have higher K2O than KC and WL. Zn has been found to be higher in EF over CJ, DC and WL.

In Inceptisols, higher amount of N was observed under EF over all other LULC classes. Higher N has also been found under CJ over DF, DC, KC and WL. P2O5 content was found to be higher under DF over all other LULC classes. Higher P2O5 content was also found under AJ, CJ and DC than KC and WL. Higher amount of K2O has been found under AJ over all other LULC. K2O content of soil under DF was also higher than CJ, EF, KC and WL. Zn has been found to be higher under EF over all other LULC classes. Zn content under CJ has also been found to be higher than AJ, DF, KC and WL.

In Ultsols, higher amount of N has been found under EF compared to all other LULC classes. Lowest N content was found under KC. P2O5 content was found to be higher under EF, DF and AJ over all other LULC. K2O content has been found to be higher under CJ in comparison to all other LULC classes. K2O content of EF and DF were also found to be higher than AJ, DC, KC and WL. Again, K2O content has been found to be higher under DC compared to AJ, KC and WL. Zn content under EF and AJ was found to be higher than all other LULC classes. CJ, DF, DC, KC and WL have been found to have lower Zn content.

It has been observed that P2O5 content is significantly higher in inceptisols irrespective of LULC classes. The study has highlighted the spatial distribution of available soil nutrients as a function of soil orders and LULC. This will be a useful input in sustainable land management programmes.