Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst (2007) 78:97110

DOI 10.1007/s10705-006-9077-z

ORIGINAL PAPER

Influence of different land-cover types on the changes

of selected soil properties in the mountain region
of Rawalakot Azad Jammu and Kashmir
M. Kaleem Abbasi Mohsan Zafar
Sumyya Razaq Khan

Received: 15 March 2006 / Accepted: 8 December 2006 / Published online: 19 January 2007

Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2007

Abstract The study focused on the impact of

change in land-cover types on soil quality inferred
by measuring the relative changes in chemical and
physical properties of non-disturbed and disturbed soil system. Soil samples were collected
from major land-cover types in the mountain
region: natural forest, grassland and cultivated
land (arable). The natural forest served as a
control against which to assess changes in soil
properties resulting from the removal of natural
vegetation or cultivation of soil. Soil samples were
collected from 015 and 1530 cm depth six times
during the year and examined for their nutrient
status, i.e. soil organic matter (SOM); total N
(TN); available P (AP); available K (AK); cation
exchange capacity (CEC), pH and physical properties like particle size distribution, bulk density
(BD), and porosity. Significant differences among
land-cover types were found for SOM, TN, AP;
AK, CEC and pH. Soil collected from the forest
had the highest levels of all nutrients followed by
grassland while soil from the arable site had very
low nutrient status indicated an extractive effect
of cultivation and agricultural practices on soil.

With significantly lower clay contents (20%),

texturally the soil of arable site was quite different from that of the natural forest and grassland.
Similarly, a 13% more BD and 12% lower
porosity showed structural deterioration of arable
soil. The changes in clay contents, BD and
porosity due to cultivation suggest adverse effects
on environmental protection functions of soil.
The correlation coefficient between OM to TN,
AP, AK and CEC suggesting that within a narrow
range of soil, OM may serves as a suitable
indicator of soil quality. Natural vegetation
appeared to be a main contributor of soil quality
as it maintained the organic carbon stock and
increased the nutrient status of soil and is therefore, important to sustain high-altitude ecosystems and reinstate the degraded lands in the
mountain region.
Keywords Deforestation
Degradation

Natural vegetation
Soil erosion
Soil properties

Soil quality

Introduction
M. Kaleem Abbasi (&)
M. Zafar
S. R. Khan
Department of Soil and Environmental Sciences,
Faculty of Agriculture, University of Azad Jammu
and Kashmir, Rawalakot, Azad Jammu and Kashmir,
Pakistan
e-mail: kaleemabbasi@yahoo.com

Changes in land-cover or removal of natural

vegetation have a drastic effect on the physical,
chemical, and biological properties of soil and
hence change the quality of soil. The changes
that occurred are decreases in plant available

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nutrients (Abbasi and Rasool 2005; Maggs and

Hewett 1993), decreases in microbial activity
(Maggs and Hewett 1990; Sahani and Behera
2001), increases in bulk density, soil erosion, and
runoff (Jusoff 1989; Rasiah and Kay 1995), and
decreases in porosity, infiltration and water-holding capacity (Reiners et al. 1994; Sahani and
Behera 2001). The most significant effect is the
soil nutrient depletion. Soil erosion and surface
runoff eroded the surface layer of soil which
contains fresh plant remains, the subsurface
material is exposed and capacity of this material
to hold nutrients is weaker. Lal (1976) reported
that the total nutrient loss in maizemaize plowtill treatment in western Nigeria was 32.2 kg/ha/
year in runoff and 35.0 kg/ha/year in eroded soil.
Similarly, nutrient loss in cowpea-maize plow-till
treatment was 23.4 kg/ha/year in runoff and
29.3 kg/ha/year in eroded soil. Similar to soil
erosion, leaching losses can also be high in the
humid tropics. Results data from Alfisols in
western Nigeria show that losses of nutrients
leached out of the root zone with seepage water
can be substantial, amounting to 300500 kg/ha/
year of nutrient loss (Lal 1992).
Most part of the State of Azad Jammu and
Kashmir is mountainous with steep slopes, hilltops and ridges. The area has been generally
covered with open woodland vegetation dominated by pine trees for hundred of years. During
the last 2030 years, as a result of increasing
demand for firewood, timber, construction material, shelter, natural land covers, particularly
forests, are being cleared and converted to barren
sites at an alarming rate. This degradation of the
mountain ecosystems has been unprecedented in
speed and scale over the past decades resulting in
drastic ecological changes in the region. High
surface runoff and accelerated soil erosion are the
most widespread forms of land degradation
resulting from such changes in land use. In
addition, landslides, soil fertility depletion, poor
crop yields and loss of biodiversity are common
problems raised throughout the region. The loss
of these resources has had a serious effect on
mountain householdsboth directly, in terms of
the loss of products from these resources, and also
indirectly in terms of their various impacts
on agricultural and non-agricultural activities.

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Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst (2007) 78:97110

Moreover, the topographical and climatic nature

makes the region very sensitive to climate change
due to inadequate reserves of water and nutrients.
If improved and scientific methods of forest
conversion, land uses and agricultural systems
are not adopted in the near future, gross
disturbances of this mountain ecoregion can lead
to irreversible degradation of soil and the
environment.
Before adopting management practices, it is
very important to increase awareness about the
drastic and accelerated effects of deforestation/
natural vegetation removal on soil quality by
comparing the physical, chemical and microbial
characteristics of different land-cover types prevailing in the region. Such studies will help to
show how removal of natural vegetation (landcover) or deforestation deteriorates the soil
quality. Moreover, an analysis on changes of soil
properties due to the land-cover change can
support decision and policy-making processes at
regional and national levels. This report is the
continuation of our previous study (Abbasi and
Rasool 2005) in which the same area was sampled
just once in a year and analyzed for changes in
nutrient level. Here, further studies have been
done by taking samples of arable, grassland and
forest soil throughout the year (six times) and
analyzed for changes in physical and chemical
properties. These results are expected to provide
a more complete picture and better understanding of the changes in the nutrient status and
physical conditions of soil following change
in land-cover type in the mountain and hilly
ecosystem.

Materials and methods

Study site description
The study site located at Banjonsa close to the
Rawalakot town, the district headquarter located
in the northeast of Pakistan under the foothills of
great Himalayas (Fig. 1). The state of Azad
Jammu and Kashmir lies between longitude
7375 and latitude 3336 and comprises an area
of 5134 square miles (13,297 square kilometers).
The topography of the area is mainly hilly and

Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst (2007) 78:97110

99

Fig. 1 Location of the

study site at Rawalakot,
Azad Jammu and
Kashmir, Pakistan

mountainous with valleys and stretches of plains.

The area is full of natural beauty with thick forest,
fast flowing rivers and winding streams. Main
rivers are Jehlum, Neelum and Poonch. The study
area is characterized by a temperate sub-humid
climate with annual rainfall ranging from 500 to
2000 mm (depending on season), most of which is
irregular and falls as intense storms during the
monsoon and some times in winter. Mean annual
temperature is about 20 C (maximum) in summer while winter is fairly cold with temperature
ranging even below freezing point. The elevation
ranges from 360 m in the south to 6325 m in the
north. The snowline is in winter is around 1200 m
above sea level while in the summer it rises to
3,300 m. The total population is 2.973 million
according to the population census of 1998. Out
of the total population, 87.5% are living in rural
areas while 12.5% are urban residents. The
population density is 246 persons per square
kilometer. The area under cultivation is around
170,787 hectares which is about 12.8% of the total
area of AJK. According to the agricultural census
of 1990, the average farm size is only 1.2 hectares,
half of which is cultivated. A large proportion of
farm land is uncultivable waste, including forest.
Per capita land holding is 0.159 hectares. The
major crops are maize followed by wheat and rice
while the minor crops include grams, pulses,
oil-seeds and vegetables. The area under fruit
cultivation is about 14,460 hectares. The most

important fruits are Apples, Pears, Apricots,

Walnuts and Plums. The area controlled by the
Forest Department is about 5669,969 hectares,
which is 42.6% of the total geographical area.
Deodar, Kail, Fur, Spruce and Cheer are some of
the most important species of trees under forests.
Detailed soil survey and soil profile studies in this
area have not been done.
Soil sampling and processing
The land-cover types investigated were a native
forest land, grassland and an arable land. The
forest site represented an undisturbed ecosystem,
where kail (Pinus excelsa L.) and cheer (Pinus
willichiana L.) were the dominant vegetation. The
native grassland consisted primarily of rough
meadowgrass (Poa trivialis L.), Bermuda grass
(Cynodon dactylon L.), and Orchard grass
(Dactylis glomerata L.) while maize and wheat is
grown in arable land. The three selected sites
were samples regularly during the course of
investigation from July 2004May 2005 once after
every two months so that different seasons/temperature of the region is covered. The rainfall and
temperature of the selected sites during the
course of study is presented in Fig. 2. Within
each site, soil samples from the layers at 015 cm
and 1530 cm were collected from five points by
soil auger and mixed as one composite sample.
Before sampling, grass, forest litter or any other

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Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst (2007) 78:97110

200
180
160

rainfall (mm)

140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
25

tempertaure (C)

20

15

10

0
T1

T2

T3

T4

T5

T6

sampling period

Fig. 2 Rainfall and temperature of the sites under study

during the experimental period

material on the soil surface were removed. All the

samples were taken from topographically similar
locations and are practically with in less than one
hundred meters of each other. After being
brought into the laboratory, soil samples were
grouped according to land-use type and depth,
well mixed and air dried for 23 days. Samples
were lightly ground and subsequently sieved
through a 2 mm mesh to remove stones, roots
and large organic residues. About 2 kg soil was
taken, sealed in the plastic bags and stored in a
refrigerator at 4 C prior to analysis.
Laboratory analysis
Soil samples were analyzed for percent distribution of primary soil particles, bulk density (BD),
porosity, organic carbon (OC) and total nitrogen
(TN), available phosphorus (AP), available potassium (AK), cation exchange capacity (CEC) and
pH. Particle-size distribution was determined

123

after the organic matter was removed with 30%

H2O2, by the Bouyoucos hydrometer method
(Bouyoucos 1962). Dry BD was determined by
the core method (Blake and Hartge 1986). The
samples were used for saturation and consecutively oven-dried at 105 C to determine the total
porosity and BD, respectively. Total porosity was
calculated in undisturbed water-saturated samples of 100 cm3 assuming no air trapped in the
pores and validated using dry BD and a particle
density of 2.65 g cm3 (Danielson and Sutherland
1986). Soil organic carbon (SOC) was determined
using a modified Mebius method (Nelson and
Sommers 1982). Briefly, 0.5 g soil was digested
with 5 ml of 1.0 N K2Cr2O7 and 10 ml of H2SO4
at 150 C for 30 min, digests were then titrated
with standardized FeSO4. The percent SOM was
calculated by multiplying the percent organic
carbon by a factor of 1.724, following the standard
practice that organic matter is composed of 58%
carbon (Brady and Weil 1999). Total N was
determined by the Kjeldahls digestion, distillation and titration method (Bremmer and Mulvaney 1982), available P by the Olsen extraction
method (Olsen and Sommers 1982) and available
K was extracted with 1 N ammonium acetate,
adjusted to pH 7 and was determined flamephotometrically (Simard 1993). CEC of the soil
was determined by leaching the soil with KCl
followed by extraction of exchangeable K+ by
ammonium acetate (Rhoades 1982). K+ in solution was determined by flame photometer. Soil
pH was measured with a glass electrode, samples
having been diluted with water (the ratio of soil to
water was 1:2.5).
Statistical analysis
All data were statistically analyzed by multifactorial analysis of variance (ANOVA) using the
software package Statgraphics (1992). Least significant differences (LSD) are given to indicate
significant variations between the values of either
land use types, depths and timings. Confidence
values (P) are given in the text for the significance
between land use types, depths, timings and their
interactions. A probability level of 0.05 was
considered significant.

Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst (2007) 78:97110

101

Results
There was a significant difference (P0.01) for
percent distribution of primary soil particles
among the three land-cover types. Similarly, the
values between the two depths (015, 1530 cm)
of each site also had a significant difference.
Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) showed a significant difference among land cover types (P0.01);
depth (P0.01), timings (P0.01) and their
interactions. However, interactions between
depth-timings for clay and depth-timings and
land-timings for sand were statistically non-significant (data not shown). In most of the cases,
time interval (timings) did not show significant
effect. The overall effect was determined by
taking the average value across the timings and
depths indicated that the clay content in forest
and grassland was almost similar, i.e. 25.99 and
25.71%, respectively, while the clay contents in
arable land was 20.81%, i.e. 1920% lower than
that of grassland and forest. Similarly, changes in
clay contents of each site at two depths were also
significant (Fig. 3). The subsurface, i.e. 1530 cm
had significantly higher clay content (18%) than
the clay contents of surface 015 cm.
Distribution of sand contents among three
land-cover types also showed significant difference. Arable soil had significantly highest sand
content throughout the sampling period followed
by grassland while forest had the lowest. By
taking average of both timings and depths, sand
contents of arable site were 46.7% compared to
41.2% and 33.6% sand in the grassland and forest,

Bulk density and porosity

The ANOVA indicated significant differences
among the land-cover types, depths and timings
but their interactions are non-significant (data not
shown). The forest had the lowest BD values at
015 cm depth throughout the sampling period,
whereas, the arable had the highest BD at the
either depths. BD of grassland was significantly
higher than the forest but lower than the arable. By
taking the average of timings and depths, overall
BD of forest, grassland and arable was 1.17, 1.25
and 1.35 mg m3, respectively, showing that soil
from arable had 15 and 7% more BD than soil from
forest and grassland (significant). Similarly, BD
values for 015 and 1530 cm showing that subsurface layer (1530 cm) had significantly more BD
than the surface 015 cm (Fig. 3) and the %
increase in BD of 1530 cm layer was 21, 15 and
9% for forest, grassland and arable soil. In contrast
to BD, the porosity of soil from the arable was
significantly lower than the porosity of soil from the
forest. Results showed that in most of the cases, the
porosity of soil from grassland and arable was

0-15 cm
15-30 cm
35

60

30

50

25

sand (%)

40
Clay (%)

Fig. 3 Distribution of
clay and sand particles
(%) in soils collected
from natural forest,
grassland and arable sites
in the surface 015 cm
and subsurface 1530 cm
layers. Vertical lines in
between the bars indicate
Least Significant
Difference (LSD)
between two depths of
each site at P0.05 level

indicating that arable site had 13 and 39% more

sand than the adjoining grassland and forest.
Similarly, grassland soil had 23% more sand than
soil from the forest. Sand contents at two depths
(by taking average of timings) indicated no
significant difference between 015 and 1530
depth in forest soil while soil from grassland and
arable showed significant difference having maximum sand contents in 015 cm depth (Fig. 3).

20
15

30
20

10

10

Forest

Grassland

Arable

Forest

Grassland

Arable

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Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst (2007) 78:97110

almost the same whereas soil from the forest

showed significantly higher porosity than the two.
Overall, the total porosity (average) of forest,
grassland and arable was 54.5, 48.8 and 48.0%,
respectively, showing that soil from arable had
12% lower porosity than the soil from the forest
(significant). Figure 4 showed a significant difference between the two depths of each site. The
porosity of the surface 015 cm was significantly
higher (12%) than the subsurface 1530 cm.
Soil organic carbon and total nitrogen
Soils collected from three land-cover types
showed significant differences (P0.01) for SOC
both at 015 and 1530 cm depth. Analysis of
Variance (ANOVA) showed significant difference among land-cover types (P0.01); depth
(P0.01), timings (P0.01) and their interactions.
However, interaction between land and timings
were non-significant. Organic C content of soils
under forests was the highest (24.614.4 g kg1)
followed by grassland (13.39.8 g kg1), while OC
in arable was very low (9.38.4 g kg1) (average).
Within the two depths, OC decreased with depth.
The overall effect of different land-cover types on
SOC (average) showed that soil from the forest
had 41 and 55% more OC than the adjacent soils
under grassland and arable. Depth also had a
significant effect on SOC distribution (Fig. 5). On
an average, the surface 015 cm layer had 31%
more SOC than the subsurface 1530 cm layer.
Similarly, Organic C contents also showed variation at different timings. The maximum SOC
was found in samples collected during May and
July whilst the minimum during January.

The available phosphorus (AP) content ranged

from 5.6 to 15.9 mg kg1 in forest, 3.88.4 mg kg1
in grassland and 1.83.7 mg kg1 in arable soil,
highest in the soil from forest and lowest in the soil
from the arable site. Land-cover types and depths
showed a consistent pattern to P availability but
time did not. Within two depths (average), the
surface layer (015 cm) of forest, grassland and

1.8

70

1.6

60

1.4
50

Porosity (%)

1.2
1.0
0.8
0.6

40
30
20

0.4
10

0.2

0.0
Forest

123

Available phosphorus and potassium

0-15 cm
15-30 cm

Bulk density (g cm-3)

Fig. 4 Variation in bulk

density (g cm3) and
porosity (%) in soils
collected from natural
forest, grassland and
arable sites in the surface
015 cm and subsurface
1530 cm layers. Vertical
lines in between the bars
indicate Least Significant
Difference (LSD)
between two depths of
each site at P0.05 level

Total N content showed similar trend and

pattern observed for SOC, i.e. highest in the
forest and lowest in the arable. By taking the
average values across the timings and depth, the
TN content of the soils collected from the forest,
grassland and arable were 2.38, 1.59 and
0.85 g kg1, respectively, showing that soil from
the forest had 33 and 64% more N than the
adjacent soils under grassland and arable. Similarly, soil from the grassland had 47% more N
than soil from the arable. Total N of three sites at
two depth is presented in Fig. 5 indicated that
surface 015 cm layer had significantly more N
than the subsurface 1530 cm. The relative
increase in total N (015 cm layer) was 43, 42
and 37% in forest, grassland and arable soil,
respectively. TN also showed variation with
timings. Generally, soil samples collected during
the month of MayJuly showed the highest N
contents whilst the samples collected in January
had the minimum TN. The C:N ratios for forest,
grassland and arable soil were 8, 7, and 10,
respectively, showing that within a soil type C:N
ratios were wider under cultivation than under
forest and grassland.

Grassland

Arable

Forest

Grassland

Arable

Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst (2007) 78:97110

0-15 cm
15-30 cm

3.5
3.0

30
25

Organic C (g kg-1)

Total N (g kg-1)

Fig. 5 Variation in total

N (g kg1) and organic
carbon (g kg1) in soils
collected from natural
forest, grassland and
arable sites in the surface
015 cm and subsurface
1530 cm layers. Vertical
lines in between the bars
indicate Least Significant
Difference (LSD)
between two depths of
each site at P0.05 level

103

2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0

20
15
10
5

0.5
0.0

0
Forest

arable soil had 48, 53 and 30% more P than the 15

30 cm layer. By taking the average of timings and
depths, overall AP contents of forest, grassland
and arable were 10.6, 5.0, and 2.6 mg kg1, respectively, showing that soil from forest had 76 and
53% more AP than soil from arable and grassland
(significant). Similarly, AP contents of grassland
were 49% higher than that of arable soil. Likewise, the AK showed significant variation among
the land-cover types and depths, matching the
distribution of AP (Fig. 6). It reached a maximum
of 94.6 mg kg1 in the surface soil of the forest to a
minimum of 32.3 mg kg1 in the subsurface soil of
the arable site. The overall AK of the soils from
forest, grassland and arable were 69.6, 44.41 and
40.23 mg kg1, respectively, showing that soil from
the forest had 36 and 42% more K than the
adjacent soils under grassland and arable.

Grassland

Arable

Forest

Grassland

Arable

forest, grassland and arable sites. When average

across timing and depth, CEC for forest, grassland and arable soils wase 25.4, 16.98, and
14.01 cmol kg1, respectively, indicating that soil
from the forest had 45 and 33% more CEC than
the adjacent soils under grassland and arable
while soil from the grassland had 17% more CEC
than soil from the arable.
Changes in land-cover types significantly changed the pH of the soil. The average pH of three
soils at two depths is presented in Fig. 7 showing
that soil from the forest had the minimum pH
followed by grassland while the soil from the
arable had the maximum pH. With regard to
depth, pH increased with depth. The average pH
(over timings and depths) for the forest, grassland
and arable was 6.95, 7.64 and 7.84, respectively,
and the difference among the three land use types
was significant.

Cation exchange capacity and soil pH

Soil nutrient correlations
CEC of soils showed variations due to change in
land-cover type. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA)
showed a significant difference among land use
types (P0.01); depth (P0.01) and timings
(P0.01) but their interactions were non-significant. CEC ranged from 22.47 to 28.95 cmol kg1
in forest, 17.4422.86 cmol kg1 in grassland and
11.9315.66 cmol kg1 in arable. Variation in
CEC at different timings was also significant but
not consistent. The average CEC of three landcover types across two depths is presented in
Fig. 6 showing that CEC decreased with depth.
The relative reduction was 7, 11, and 12%, for

Many measurements in this study were significantly correlated with each other (Figs. 8, 9).
Most of the nutrients determined during the study
have highly significant correlation (positive) with
the SOM. Total N, available P and available K all
were positively and significantly correlated with
SOM, i.e. r2 = 0.83, 0.93, and 0.89, respectively.
The similar distribution patterns of CEC and
SOM showed their highest correlation coefficient
(r2 = 0.91). The correlation coefficient between
clay content and CEC was also significant
(r2 = 0.52). Bulk density and soil pH also showed

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Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst (2007) 78:97110

Fig. 6 Variation in
available phosphorus
(mg kg1), available
potassium (mg kg1) and
cation exchange capacity
(cmol kg1) in soils
collected from natural
forest, grassland and
arable sites in the surface
015 cm and subsurface
1530 cm layers. Vertical
lines in between the bars
indicate Least Significant
Difference (LSD)
between two depths of
each site at P0.05 level

0-15 cm
15-30 cm

16

100

14

available K (mgkg-1 soil)

available P (mg kg-1 soil)

80
12
10
8
6
4

60

40

20
2
0

0
Forest

Grassland

Arable

Forest

Grassland

Arable

30

CEC (c mol kg-1 soil)

25

20

15

10

0
Forest

10

pH

0
Grassland

Arable

Fig. 7 Variation in pH of soils collected from natural

forest, grassland and arable sites in the surface 015 cm
and subsurface 1530 cm layers. Vertical lines in between
the bars indicate Least Significant Difference (LSD)
between two depths of each site at P0.05 level

significant correlations with SOM, i.e. r2 = 0.75

and r2 = 0.61, respectively, but the correlation
was irreversible, i.e. negative.

123

Arable

Discussion

0-15 cm
15-30 cm

Forest

Grassland

Distribution of individual soil particles among

land-cover types showed substantial changes in
the arable site where fine soil particle, clay were
1920% lower while sand contents were 1339%
higher compared to those of the adjoining grassland and forest. The general trend in soil texture
in the field under cultivation has therefore been
an increase in the sand and a decrease in the clay
contents. Lower sand fractions in soils from the
forest and grassland were most likely because of
well-covered vegetation protecting the soil
against erosion. The clay fractions in arable site
are likely to be lost due to processes of selective
erosion and migration down the soil profile. The
latter was evident from the fact that in all the
three sites, clay contents of subsurface layers were
higher than the overlying surface layers. Martinez-Mena et al. (1999) observed a 1020% more

Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst (2007) 78:97110

0.30
1.4
2

r 2 = 0.75

r = 0.83

0.25

1.3

TotalN (%)

Bulk density (g cm-3)

Fig. 8 Correlation
coefficient of organic
matter with soil bulk
density, total N, available
P, available K and pH

105

1.2

1.1

0.20

0.15

0.10

1.0

0.05
1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

4.0

4.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

4.0

Organic matter (%)

8.5

r 2 = 0.89
P
K

80

8.0

r 2 = 0.61

7.5

60

pH

Available P & K (mg kg-1)

100

40

6.5

r = 0.93

20

7.0

6.0

5.5
1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

4.0

4.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

Organic matter (%)

30

3.0

3.5

4.0

4.5

27

28

30

r = 0.91

28

28

26

26

CEC (C mol kg-1)

CEC (C mol kg-1)

Fig. 9 Correlation
coefficient of organic
matter with cation
exchange capacity (CEC)
and clay with CEC

2.5

Organic matter (%)

24
22
20
18

22
20
18

16

16

14

14

12

r = 0.52

24

12
1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

Organic matter (%)

sand particles in uncovered field to those covered

with natural vegetation, and explained raindrops
the predominant contributor to this difference. In
addition, loss of OM in the absence of vegetative
cover causes soil aggregates to be crashed and
consequently the finer particles translocated to
lower depths, or moved to other areas via erosion
and thus leaving the coarser particles in site. The
mean annual rainfall in all the three sites was the

4.0

4.5

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

Clay (%)

same, but the raindrop intensity and splash in

arable site was much higher because of the
absence of soil cover, moving the finer particles
(surface layer) away from their original positions.
A substantial loss of clay fraction from soil
because of surface runoff and water erosion is
also reported by others (Basu and Behera 1993;
Hajabbasi et al. 1997; Islam and Weil 2000;
Sahani and Behera 2001). The impact of loss of

123

106

clay fractions on soil quality is very crucial.

Previous work revealed that clay is strongly
related to soil structure stability and reduction
in the clay fraction in the arable soil or soil
without vegetative cover can therefore be equated to the loss of structure stability (Sahani and
Behera 2001). Such continuous process finally
extended towards the physical deterioration and
degradation of soil. In addition, distribution of C
and N in soil is also associated with primary soil
particles especially with the clay (Solomon et al.
2001). McGrath et al. (2001) reported that soil C,
N and P concentration was strongly related to
clay content. Soil CEC in the present study is
positively correlated with clay particles
(r2 = +0.52) indicating the importance of clay to
hold nutrients. Therefore, the lower clay content
in arable soil is a matter of great concern for soil
quality improvement and sustainable land use.
Most of the cases, time of sampling (timings) did
not show significant effect. A shift in clay content
is not expected during one year because soil
texture is the most stable soil property over time.
Changes in land-cover type changed the BD and
porosity of soil. Soil under cultivation had higher
BD (7 and 15%) and lower porosity (12%) than the
adjacent soils under grassland and forest. Higher
BD and a concomitant lower porosity due to
change in land cover/vegetation is also reported by
Reiners et al. (1994) and Celik (2005). The loss of
OM by cultivation or relatively less annual accumulation of OM both in grassland and arable
increased the BD with corresponding decreased
in porosity. The highly significant correlation
between BD and OM observed in the study
(r2 = 0.75) showed that change in BD is attributed
to change in OM content. In addition, continuous
use of machinery during cultivation may cause a
decline in soil aggregation which resulted in the
increased BD of arable soil (Lal 1987). Sahani and
Behera (2001) reported that change in BD and
porosity due to cultivation ultimately resulted in a
decline in water-holding capacity (WHC). The
average moisture contents of arable site (data not
shown) were 22% lower than the moisture contents
of forest soil. Therefore, change in moisture level
and its possible effect on the WHC of soils
indicated that soil hydrological balance has been
disturbed by change in land-cover type.

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Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst (2007) 78:97110

Loss of SOM under cropping systems is often

considered one of the most serious forms of
agriculturally induced soil degradation (Dominy
and Haynes 2002). Soil collected from arable site
showed remarkably less OC (55%) indicating a
degrading and declining effect of arable cultivation on soil. The extent of loss varied widely with
depth and the maximum loss of 62% was
recorded for the surface 015 cm to that of 41%
in the subsurface 1530 cm layer. Relatively low
contents of OM in soil collected from arable site
might be because of the different aspects affecting
the ecosystems, i.e. (i) land use for cultivation is
related to soil management practices that have
commonly been destructive to the soil and have
caused serious water erosion and runoff (desurfacing). Therefore, differences in soil erosion
intensity in such an erosion risky area, may
contribute to the significant differences in SOC
and TN for non-cultivated and cultivated soils, (ii)
OM in cultivated soils has less physical protection
than that in the uncultivated soils because of the
removal of large quantities of biomass during
cultivation, a reduction in the quantity and quality
of organic inputs to the soil combined with faster
SOM decomposition and mineralization rates
(Mills and Fey 2003). Also tillage periodically
breaks up macroaggregates and exposes previously protected OM (Nardi et al. 1996), resulting
in a substantial loss of OM, (iii) distribution of C
and N in soil is also associated with primary soil
particles. In an experiment, Solomon et al. (2000)
reported that 47% of C and 57% of N were
associated with clay while 18% of C and 12% of
N were found in sand fraction indicating that
SOM associated with silt and clay was enriched in
C and N, while SOM associated with sand
fractions was depleted. Therefore, accumulation
of significantly more OC in forest may also be due
to the higher clay content (20%), which forms
clay humus complexes, which protect the OM
against oxidation and degradation (Quiroga et al.
1996). Clay particles also act as an adsorption sink
of OM (Marshman and Marshall 1991), therefore
the increase in clay contributed to increase in OM
of forest soil.
Total N contents showed significant variation
among land-cover types and depths, matching the
SOC distribution. Soil collected from arable site

Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst (2007) 78:97110

had OC contents 64% lower than the adjacent

forest site. The correlation coefficient (r) between
OM and total N showed a significant linear
relationship (r2 = +0.83). Therefore, lower N
contents in soil from arable site may be attributed
to the lower OM content and vice versa. Similarly, N contents in the subsurface 1530 cm layer
of forest, grassland and arable soil were 43, 42 and
37% lower than the surface 015 cm layer. This
discrepancy in TN is also attributed to variation in
OM between the two depths. Patrick and Smith
(1975) reported that removal of natural vegetation caused the nutrients, including N, to be
removed up to three times compared to conventional lodging. In addition to losses from biomass
removal, nutrient can be lost from the soil by
increased soil nutrient mobilization and leaching,
when little or no vegetation is present (Mroz et al.
1985). Changes in sampling time or season also
showed significant changes in TN contents. The
maximum TN was found in samples collected
during May and July (summer) whilst the minimum during January (winter). This change in TN
is attributed to change in temperature as the
temperature during the months of May and July
was 19 and 23 C as compared to 6.5 C in the
month of January.
The C:N ratios within a soil type were wider
under cultivation than under forest and grassland,
indicating slightly greater decline in N than C
upon cultivation. An increase in the C:N ratio
indicates that net mineralization rates of organic
N compounds are greater than those of organic C
compounds. This pattern of change in organic C
and N is consistent with the results of Saggar et al.
(2001) who reported high C:N ratios for cultivated soil compare to soil under pasture (10.6 vs.
11.5). In contrast, Saikh et al. (1998); Saviozzi
et al. (2001) and Martinez-Mena et al. (2002)
reported higher C/N ratios in the soil covered
with natural vegetation to that of cultivated soil.
We observed that the changes in SOM due to
change in land-cover types were not consistently
reflected by the C/N ratios. Therefore, the C/N
ratio must be considered a less informative
indicator of SOM quality than the C and N
contents alone.
Changes in AP and AK exhibited similar trend
that observed for OM and TN and both showed

107

significant loss under cultivation. However, the

extent of loss in AP was much higher than that of
AK. Similarly, variation in P and K contents was
significant between the two depths, i.e. decreasing
with increasing soil depth. Among different land
cover types, P reduction in soil from arable site
was four times to that from the forest and two
times to that of grassland. Therefore, the pattern
of distribution of available P and K among the
land-cover types suggests that the effect of change
in land cover type on the availability of these vital
nutrients was negative. The correlation coefficient
(r2) between OM and AP and between OM and
AK are very high, i.e. +0.93 and +0.89, respectively. Organic matter, therefore, is the primary P
and K supplying source in these soils and loss of P
and K has been closely associated with the losses
of OM in the soil. This is in agreement to the
observation by Liu et al. (2002) that soils under
cultivation had significantly less AP than soil
under forest/vegetation and this change in P
availability was associated with OM content.
However, the finding are in contrast to the
observation by Hajabbasi et al. (1997); Saikh
et al., (1998) and Vagan et al., (2006) who
reported higher P content under cultivation to
that under forest or natural vegetation because of
the fact that trees in forests extract more P than
field crops and/or that a high proportion of the P
pool is retained and immobilized by microbes in
the litter layers of forests and natural vegetation.
In these studies, AP levels were lower in the
forest soils than in the cultivated fields, despite
the higher OM contents of the forest soils
indicating the significance of inorganic sources
of P. While no P fertilizers were applied in our
field since many years. In addition, the cultivated
soils in our conditions have very low OM input
compared to the output (nutrient uptake) by
crops whereas forest and grassland ecosystem had
sufficient OM input throughout the year. Under
such conditions, it is unlikely that forest ecosystem has less P than that of arable ecosystem. The
variation in AP may also be attributed to difference in pH of the soil. The increase in pH due to
cultivation may cause P fixation resulting in less
availability of P (Bewket and Stroosnijder 2003).
With regard to change in the availability of K due
to change in land cover, in addition to the effect

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108

of OM, Adams and Boyle (1982) reported that

upon initial mineralization, enhanced by cultivation, probably move through the soil with counter
ions, thus having little interaction with the soil
exchange complex. These events are suggested by
the rapid ion concentration and ion pair formation (Snyder and Harter 1984) and/or rapid
nutrient uptake by crops in the cultivated sites.
Changes in CEC of soils due to cultivation
were quite remarkable showing 17 and 45% less
CEC than the adjoining grassland and forest soils.
Similarly, the surface 015 cm layer had significantly more CEC (10%) than subsurface
1530 cm layer. Generally, CEC of soils is determined by their SOM content and the amount
and type of clay minerals present (Bewket
and Stroosnijder 2003). Correlation coefficient
between CEC and OM; CEC and clay contents
indicated that CEC is significantly correlated
to organic C (r2 = 0.91) and clay contents
(r2 = 0.52). These values indicated that OM and
clay contents contribute significantly to soil CEC
and the role of OM far exceeding the role of clay.
Therefore, any change in OM due to change in
land-cover can affect on soil CEC. The relationship between these three parameters may be
further confirmed by the CEC values at 015 and
1530 cm depth where CEC showed a linear
relationship with OM and clay distribution.
Soil pH under natural vegetation (forest and
grassland) and in the surface 015 cm layer was
significantly lower than the pH of the soil under
cultivation and pH of the subsurface 1530 cm.
The lower pH in surface layer and soil under
forest and grassland is associated with the relative
increase in OM in these components of the soil.
The correlation coefficient between OM and pH
indicated a significantly correlation (r2 = 0.61)
showing that OM contribute significantly toward
the change in pH of the soil. The tendency for soil
pH to decrease due to accumulation of SOC has
also been reported in long-term field experiments
on acid soils (Schjnning et al. 1994). Natural
vegetation especially trees such as Pinus species
invariably alters many soil properties including
pH. Soils under plantations typically become
more acidic the effect usually being ascribed to
the uptake of basic cations into the forest biomass
(Fey et al. 1990). Pine needle litter contains acidic

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Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst (2007) 78:97110

organic compounds that are released into the soil

during decomposition (Fey 2001).

Conclusion
Both physical and chemical characteristics of soil
determined for three land-cover types showed
remarkable differences for percent clay content,
BD, porosity, OM, TN, AP, AK and CEC. Soils
from the forest and grassland showed superiority
by having high concentration of all the nutrients
and better physical conditions (high porosity and
low BD). In contrast, soil from the arable
exhibited extensive degradation through plant
nutrient depletion and poor physical conditions.
Relatively low contents of OM (55%) and CEC
(45%) under cultivation and its crucial effects on
soil physical properties well explained the vulnerability of the structure and function of the
high altitude ecosystems. Similarly, lower contents of clay in arable soil are a matter of great
concern for soil quality improvement and sustainable land use. These results highlight the
importance of the establishment of natural vegetation in sloppy hilly areas, where it is a major
factor for marinating soil organic C stock and
protecting soil against runoff and erosion.
Improvement in SOM and other nutrients level
would be expected from more C inputs and
introduction of leguminous plants intercropping
with other crops to ameliorate soil quality in the
hilly areas. Vegetation restoration, such as shrub,
tree and grass planting, would increase the
content of SOM, decrease the extent of soil
erosion thereby prevent soil degradation. The
data obtained are increasing the total pool of
data values that can be used as input parameters
in, and for validating, simulation models, either
for local use or for extrapolation to other areas
with similar conditions.
Acknowledgements The authors are grateful to the
University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir for financial
support. We express our appreciation to thank
Dr. Muhammad Aslam and Mr. Tarique Sultan of Soil
Biology and Biochemistry Section, National Agriculture
Research Center (NARC), Islamabad Pakistan for
providing all analytical facilities in their laboratory
during this study.

Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst (2007) 78:97110

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