Physico-chemical characterization of Oak, Pine and Sal forest soil profiles of Betalghat Region of Kumaun Himalaya

Year 2018, Volume: 7 Issue: 3, 261 - 272, 01.07.2018

Naveen Ch. Pandey Lalit M. Tewari G.c. Joshi Brij M. Upreti

https://doi.org/10.18393/ejss.435082

Cited By: 6

Abstract

Soil
is one of the basic natural resources on which all forms of terrestrial life
co-exist. The soils of three forest types i.e., banj-oak (Quercus leucotrichophora A. Camus) chir-pine (Pinus roxburghii Sargent) and sal (Shorea robusta Gaertn. f.) of Betalghat block, Nainital District,
(Kumaun Himalaya). Soils were drawn from three depths viz. 0-10 cm, 11-20 cm,
21-30 cm. The
present study were studied resulted to soil physico-chemical properties i.e. maximum soil texture (sand 34.30 %, silt 57.21 % and clay 33.23 %), soil moisture (12.6 %), bulk density (1.43 g.cm^-3),
porosity (52.06%), water holding capacity
(69.27%) and the maximum values
of chemical analysis i.e. pH (6.80), total carbon (3.82 %), organic
matter (6.57 %), total nitrogen
(0.36 %), available potassium (267
mg/kg) and available phosphorous
(62
mg/kg). Banj-oak forest shows
rich physical properties followed by sal and chir-pine forest while chir-pine
forest shows rich chemical properties in compared to sal and banj-oak forest.

Keywords

Soil physico-chemical characterization, Betalghat region, banj-oak, chir-pine, sal forest, Kumaun Himalaya

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