Estimation of saturated hydraulic conductivity of red and lateritic highland soils under diverse land use systems

Abstract

Fifteen soil profile samples representing the highlands of Purulia, Birbhum, Bardhaman, Bankura and Medinipur districts in red and lateritic zone of West Bengal were collected from 0-15, 15-30 and 30-45 cm depth under rice-vegetable, rice-mustard and rice-fallow cropping systems with a view to assess the predictability of saturated hydraulic conductivity of the soils as influenced by different physical, hydro-physical and chemical properties of the farmlands. Various statistical procedures such as correlation, regression, principal component analysis (PCA) and minimum data set (MSD) matrix were employed on the measured laboratory based dataset for comprehensive agreement of dependable hydraulic conductivity of soils as a model function of independent soil variables. The correlation and regression model suggested CEC as the key parameter in regulating the hydraulic conductivity in the soils. Based on the PCA and MSD techniques, it is revealed that clay, silt, sand, CEC, bulk density, porosity and organic carbon played varying role in estimating the variability of hydraulic conductivity of soils. The present study suggests that saturated hydraulic conductivity of the highland soils could be predicted largely from the measured values of silt and clay fraction, CEC and bulk density which seems be useful for efficient irrigation, drainage and crop planning programmes