Effect of Land use Change on Total Phosphorus and Its Fractions in North-Western Himalayas

Abstract

Aims: Conversion of land from forest to cropping has a serious effect on soil phosphorus and its fractions Results: Land use is now widely understood to be a primary factor in environmental change across all time and space scales. The purpose of this research was to ascertain how different land uses affected the concentration of phosphorus in soil. Soil phosphorus (P) reserves are depleted when land is converted from natural vegetation to permanent agricultural cropping. The transformation of North-Western Himalayas from a forest-dominated to a grassland-dominated ecosystem is just one example of the diversity of land significantly less soil aggregation occurred when agricultural land was cleared of its native vegetation. Total organic carbon in soils was reduced when grassland was converted to cropland.  Reduced total organic carbon (TOC) concentrations by 62-79% and organic phosphorus (Po) concentrations by 47-53%. Even though, the total silt+clay fraction's contribution was negligible, it contained a significant amount of C and Po reserves and the C/Po ratio has been holding fairly steady, they have proven to be more robust. This impact of cropping on soil P reserves has been demonstrated in research, but changing land use practices can alleviate these problems significantly.