| Abstrakt: |
The study 'Decoding soil health: a comparative analysis of chemical and biological properties in rural land use systems of northern Bangalore' was conducted at the Department of Soil Science and Agriculture Chemistry, UAS, Bengaluru to investigate the influence of different land use systems on soil chemical and biological properties in the rural area of the northern transect of Bengaluru during the year 2021 to 2023. Three land use systems, namely agriculture, forest and barren land, were selected for the study. Twenty soil samples were collected from each land use system at a depth of 0-15 cm and analyzed for various chemical and biological properties. The pH levels were slightly acidic and significantly lower in cultivated agricultural land (5.55b) followed by uncultivated forest land (5.99ab), while the electrical conductivity (EC) values recorded were slightly higher in agricultural land (0.45 dSm-1) compared to forest (0.28 dSm-1) and barren (0.30 dSm-1) land use system. Acidic pH and increase in EC may be attributed to the application of inorganic fertilizers in cultivated agricultural land use systems. Available nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium contents recorded were also found to be higher in agricultural land use systems (N- 329.66 kg ha-1, P- 35.29 kg ha-1, K- 265.82 kg ha-1) compared to forest (N- 218.85 kg ha-1, P- 20.39 kg ha-1, K- 235.53 kg ha-1) and barren (N- 164.33 kg ha-1, P- 13.88 kg ha-1, K- 159.84 kg ha-1) land use systems. Organic carbon content was found to be higher in natural forest systems (1.06%) compared to agriculture (0.67%) and barren (0.11%) land-use systems. Biological properties like dehydrogenase and urease activity recorded were found to be highest in forest land use system. The study clearly indicates that land use systems significantly influences the chemical and biological properties of the soil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
