Journal of Food, Agriculture and Environment

Changes in soil properties and productivity as affected by land use and slope position in the northwest of Iran

Author(s):

Leila Nazmi ^1*, Hossein Asadi ², Ruzanna Manukyan ¹

Recieved Date: 2011-07-28, Accepted Date: 2011-10-06

Abstract:

Grassland conversion to farmland causes accelerated decomposition of soil organic matter due to tillage operations and increases soil quality degradation. Slope position due to its effect on aggregation processes affects soil productivity. This research was carried out to evaluate the effect of land use and topography position on soil properties and productivity in four different landscapes. For this purpose, soil samples were collected from four slope positions of two adjacent land uses of a grassland and a dry farm land in each landscape. Soil samples were analyzed for their physicochemical properties and a greenhouse experiment as a factorial experiment of completely randomized design with three replications was used to evaluate the effects of land use, slope position and fertilization (non-fertilization and complete N, P and K fertilization) on wheat growth as soil productivity. Soil generally had lower quality in the farmland than the grassland and in the upper slope positions than in the lower slopes. Results showed that significantly higher wheat growth indices belonged to lower slope positions of grasslands and fertilized treatments. Except for dry matter, fertilizer application had no significant effect on yield components in samples taken from grasslands. Agronomic productivity of the soil was lowest for the landscape with highest slope gradient. For the farmland soils, although the fertilization significantly increased the yield components, it failed to reach the level of the grassland soils, in other words, it is not possible to compensate the destructive effects of tillage and erosion by fertilization.

Keywords:

Grassland, farmland, slope gradient, slope position, fertilization, soil properties, wheat yield

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Journal: Journal of Food, Agriculture and Environment
Year: 2011
Volume: 9
Issue: 3&4
Category: Environment
Pages: 864-870

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