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Assessing Impacts of Land Use Change on Soil Quality Indicators in a Loessial Soil in Golestan Province, Iran

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Relation http://oar.icrisat.org/1272/
http://jast.journals.modares.ac.ir/?_action=articleInfo&article=439
 
Title Assessing Impacts of Land Use Change on Soil Quality
Indicators in a Loessial Soil in Golestan Province, Iran
 
Creator Ayoubi, S
Khormali, F
Sahrawat, K L
Rodrigues de Lima, A C
 
Subject Soil Science
 
Description A study was conducted to determine suitable soil properties as soil quality indicators,
using factor analysis in order to evaluate the effects of land use change on loessial hillslope
soils of the Shastkola District in Golestan Province, northern Iran. To this end, forty
surface soil (0-30 cm) samples were collected from four adjacent sites with the following
land uses systems: (1) natural forest, (2) cultivated land, (3) land reforested with olive,
and (4) land reforested with Cupressus. Fourteen soil chemical, physical, and biological
properties were measured. Factor analysis (FA) revealed that mean weight diameter
(MWD), water stable aggregates (WSA), soil organic matter (SOM), and total nitrogen
(TN) were suitable for assessing the soil quality in the given ecosystem for monitoring the
land use change effects. The results of analysis of variance (ANOVA) and mean
comparison showed that there were significant (P< 0.01) differences among the four
treatments with regard to SOM, MWD, and sand content. Clearing of the hardwood
forest and tillage practices during 40 years led to a decrease in SOM by 71.5%.
Cultivation of the deforested land decreased MWD by 52% and increased sand by 252%.
The reforestation of degraded land with olive and Cupressus increased SOM by about
49% and 72%, respectively, compared to the cultivated control soil. Reforestation with
olive increased MWD by 81% and reforestation with Cupressus increased MWD by
83.6%. The study showed that forest clearing followed by cultivation of the loessial hilly
slopes resulted in the decline of the soil quality attributes, while reforestation improved
them in the study area.
 
Publisher University of Tarbiat Modares
 
Date 2011
 
Type Article
PeerReviewed
 
Format application/pdf
 
Language en
 
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Identifier http://oar.icrisat.org/1272/1/kls1.pdf
Ayoubi, S and Khormali, F and Sahrawat, K L and Rodrigues de Lima, A C (2011) Assessing Impacts of Land Use Change on Soil Quality Indicators in a Loessial Soil in Golestan Province, Iran. Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology, 13 (5). pp. 727-742. ISSN 1680-7073