Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
8846278 | Acta Ecologica Sinica | 2018 | 7 Pages |
Abstract
We studied the interaction effects of 8-different land uses systems viz., forestry (T1), silvopastoral (T2), horticulture (T3), agrihorticulture (T4), agrisilviculture (T5), agrihortisilviculture (T6)Â >Â grassland (T7) and agriculture (T8) in 2-altitudinal gradient for three consecutive soil layers of up to 1Â m deep from sub-montane to low hill sub-tropical zone of Western Himalayas in Himachal Pradesh State of India. All the land uses under agroforestry practices viz., agrisilviculture, silvopastoral, agrihorticulture and agrihortisilviculture showed significantly enhanced values of pH, organic carbon (OC %), available N, P, K and exchangeable Ca, Mg and available S than agriculture land use. A maximum value of soil carbon (1.08%) was observed in forest land use followed by silvopastoral, horticulture, agrihorticulture, agrisilviculture, agrihortisilviculture, grassland and agriculture, respectively. Overall highest values of available N, P and K were observed under forest land use and silvopastoral among agroforestry systems. Available N, P, and K declined with increasing altitude. Exchangeable Mg followed the trend T7Â >Â T2Â >Â T5Â >Â T1Â >Â T6Â >Â T3Â >Â T4Â >Â T8 and available Sulphur as T7Â >Â T3Â >Â T2Â >Â T6Â >Â T5Â >Â T4Â >Â T8Â >Â T1, respectively. The value of exchangeable Ca and available S increased with increasing altitude. From the study it can be concluded that tree based land use systems of subtropical zone of the Himalayan region are more sustainable and environment friendly than agriculture and grassland use systems. Hence, they need to be conserved and promoted on large scale. The outcome of this paper will be helpful in convincing the farmers for adoptions of agroforestry practices in large scale.
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Authors
Rahul Singh, D.R. Bhardwaj, Nazir A. Pala, Bhalendra Singh Rajput,