SOIL HEALTH ASSESSMENT UNDER PROTECTED CULTIVATION OF FLORICULTURAL CROPS IN LOW AND MID HILL ZONES OF HIMACHAL PRADESH
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Date
2013
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ABSTRACT
Soil health assessment is of utmost importance to know the appropriate management practices to be adopted for sustainable crop production. Sustainability of intensive agriculture system therefore, is intimately linked to maintenance or enhancement of soil health. Present study was undertaken during 2012-2013 to investigate the impact of intensive cultivation on soil health under polyhouses located in Bilaspur, Solan and Sirmaur districts of Himachal Pradesh. Studies reveal that the bulk density ranged from 1.09 to 1.13 Mg m-3, thereby indicating that the soils are good for root proliferation and plant growth. The particle density varied between 2.25 to 2.31 Mg m-3, whereas the porosity ranged from 49.47 to 51.09 per cent. The CEC values fell in the range of 14.70 to 15.00 meq./100g. The soil reaction was noted to be neutral (7.08 to 7.34) and EC values were in safe limits (<0.8 dS m-1). The organic carbon content varied from 1.76 to 2.00 per cent and was categorized as high. The available N, P and K ranged from 246.1 to 264.8, 49.5 to 61.9 and 587.1 to 682.5 kg ha-1, respectively. With the exception of N at some locations, all the soils were high in these nutrients. The exchangeable Ca and Mg were found to be adequate and sulphur content (15.21 to 16.99 mg kg-1) was found moderate in the soils. Available Zn, Fe, Cu and Mn were medium to high in availability, both under polyhouse and open field conditions. The chloride and bicarbonate content of soils were in the optimum range. The microbial biomass ranged from 322.65 to 385.343 µg g-1, which fell under medium range for categorizing soil health.
The soil indicators like pH, N, K, Ca, Mg, S, micronutrients and chloride had less effect on soil health, while, EC, phosphorus, organic carbon, porosity, bicarbonates and microbial biomass significantly influenced the soil health both under polyhouse and open field conditions.. In light of the soil health index values 36.7, 46.7 and 16.6 per cent of samples were categorized under the very high, high and medium soil health, respectively under polyhouse conditions. Such values for open field condition were noted to be 10, 70 and 20 per cent, respectively. Soil health was found to be affected by the management practices adopted by the farmers and the degree of manure and fertilizer usage over a period of time up to substantial extent.