Impact of different management systems on soil quality of farms in a semi-arid tropical setting

ABSTRACT

In recent times, non-conventional farming practices have emerged as a viable alternative to check soil degradation due to the indiscriminate application of agrochemicals. However, limited studies have been conducted on soils under different management systems in farmer-managed settings. The present study aims to understand whether the documented advantages of going non-conventional are reflected in such a setting, provided its susceptibility to variations in nutrient input availability and environmental factors. The study was conducted on two different farm management systems, i.e. conventional and non-conventional, in close geographical proximity in a semi-arid tropical region of India. The soils were analysed for their physical and chemical properties, major and micronutrients and trace metals during the post-monsoonal season. The studied soils are sandy loam in texture, neutral to moderately alkaline and non-saline. These are deficient in organic carbon and total N, with very low to medium available P and low to high available K. Although adequate availability of Fe, Mn and Cu is observed, Zn deficiency is present in 16% of the soils. The soils are predominantly composed of SiO_2, followed by Al₂O₃ and minor quantities of FeO, K₂O and CaO, with generally low concentrations of trace metals (Cr, Zn, Ni, Cu, Pb, Co and Cd). Though no distinct differences are observed in major nutrient abundances and micronutrient availability, yet a significant difference is noticed in the trace metal concentration in soils from the two management systems. In light of similar parentage and absence of any significant difference in other soil properties, the relative trace metal enrichment observed in soils from the conventional farm might indicate an impact of differences in the management practices adopted.

KEYWORDS:

• Agricultural soil
• land management
• India
• non-conventional farm
• soil quality
• trace metals

Acknowledgments

We thank the Dean, School of Environmental Sciences, JNU for encouragement and Department of Science and Technology (Purse-Phase-II) for financial support. We thank Prof. I.S. Thakur, Prof. S. Mukherjee and Prof. S.C. Garkoti for extending their laboratory facilities. PJ acknowledges CSIR, New Delhi for Junior Research Fellowship. We also thank Mrs. Ila, Mr. Shiv, Mr. Sachin and Mr. Rajat for their assistance and support towards sampling. The authors thank Dr Pilloton (Editor-in-Chief) for his valuable suggestions and the anonymous reviewers for their constructive reviews that helped in improving the quality of this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, India as Junior Research Fellowship [09/263(1033)/2014-EMR-I].