Pasture degradation effects on soil quality indicators at different hillslope positions in a semiarid region of western Iran
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Shamsollah Ayoubi, Nazanin Emami, Nasrin Ghaffari, Naser Honarjoo, Kanwar Lal Sahrawat. (30/11/2014). Pasture degradation effects on soil quality indicators at different hillslope positions in a semiarid region of western Iran. Environmental Earth Sciences, 71, pp. 375-381.
Abstract
A study was made to determine the influence of
pasture degradation on soil quality indicators that included
physical, chemical, biological and micromorphological
attributes, along the hillslope positions in Chaharmahal and
Bakhtiari province, western Iran. Soil samples from different
slope positions were collected from 0 to 30 cm depth
for physical and chemical properties and from 0 to 15 cm
depth for biological properties at two adjacent sites in the
two ecosystems: natural pasture and cultivated land. Soil
quality indicators including bulk density, mean weight
diameter, soil organic carbon (SOC), particulate organic
material (POM) in aggregate fractions, total nitrogen,
available potassium, available phosphorus, cation exchange
capacity, soil microbial respiration (SMR) and microbial
biomass C and N were determined. The results showed that
SOC decreased cultivation from 1.09 to 0.77 % following
pasture degradation. The POM decreased by about 19.35 %
in cultivated soils when compared to natural pasture; also,
SMR and microbial biomass C and N decreased significantly
following pasture degradation. Furthermore, aggregate stability and pore spaces decreased, and bulk
density increased in the cultivated soils. Overall, our results
showed that long-term cultivation following pasture degradation
led to a decline in soil quality in all selected slope
positions at the site studied in the semiarid region.
