Assessing soil quality of pasture and agriculture land uses in Shandiz county, northwestern Iran

Soil quality can be inferred from some physical, chemical and biological soil indicators, and it may be changed under the influence of land use change. In this regard, in order to achieve sustainable management of lands, the soil quality indicators (SQI) should be studied and evaluated. The aim of t...

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Main Authors: Fariba Samaei, Hojat Emami, Amir Lakzian
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2022-06-01
Series:Ecological Indicators
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X22004459
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author Fariba Samaei
Hojat Emami
Amir Lakzian
author_facet Fariba Samaei
Hojat Emami
Amir Lakzian
author_sort Fariba Samaei
collection DOAJ
description Soil quality can be inferred from some physical, chemical and biological soil indicators, and it may be changed under the influence of land use change. In this regard, in order to achieve sustainable management of lands, the soil quality indicators (SQI) should be studied and evaluated. The aim of this study was to compare soil quality indicators in agricultural and pasture land uses in some parts of Shandiz city, as a randomized complete block design at two different land uses including pasture and agriculture with three replications. 120 soil samples were collected from the surface soil (0–20 cm depth) of both land uses and 18 physical, biological and chemical properties were selected as Total Data Set (TDS). Then, ten features were selected as Minimum Data Set (MDS) using the Principle Component Analysis (PCA). Soil quality was evaluated using two cumulative quality indices, integrated quality index (IQI) and Nemero quality index (NQI) in these two datasets. The results showed that pasture land use had the highest value of NQI and IQI in both data sets compared to agricultural land use. The highest value of soil quality index was related to NQI in the minimum data set in pasture land use. The correlation coefficients for IQI between TDS and MDS for pasture and agricultural samples were 0.98 and 0.94%, respectively, and for the NQI were 0.88 and 0.82%, respectively. There was a significant difference (p < 0.01) between the values of soil quality indices in both pasture and agricultural land used using both TDS and MDS, which indicates the use of MDS instead of TDS can be used to assess soil quality in the studied area. According to the results of this research it can be concluded that agricultural practices decrease soil quality.
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spelling doaj.art-80d3f887b0864084b6d9c233ace523bd2022-12-22T02:10:59ZengElsevierEcological Indicators1470-160X2022-06-01139108974Assessing soil quality of pasture and agriculture land uses in Shandiz county, northwestern IranFariba Samaei0Hojat Emami1Amir Lakzian2Department of Soil Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, IranCorresponding author at: Department of Soil Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Azadi Square, Mashhad 917751163, Iran.; Department of Soil Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, IranDepartment of Soil Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, IranSoil quality can be inferred from some physical, chemical and biological soil indicators, and it may be changed under the influence of land use change. In this regard, in order to achieve sustainable management of lands, the soil quality indicators (SQI) should be studied and evaluated. The aim of this study was to compare soil quality indicators in agricultural and pasture land uses in some parts of Shandiz city, as a randomized complete block design at two different land uses including pasture and agriculture with three replications. 120 soil samples were collected from the surface soil (0–20 cm depth) of both land uses and 18 physical, biological and chemical properties were selected as Total Data Set (TDS). Then, ten features were selected as Minimum Data Set (MDS) using the Principle Component Analysis (PCA). Soil quality was evaluated using two cumulative quality indices, integrated quality index (IQI) and Nemero quality index (NQI) in these two datasets. The results showed that pasture land use had the highest value of NQI and IQI in both data sets compared to agricultural land use. The highest value of soil quality index was related to NQI in the minimum data set in pasture land use. The correlation coefficients for IQI between TDS and MDS for pasture and agricultural samples were 0.98 and 0.94%, respectively, and for the NQI were 0.88 and 0.82%, respectively. There was a significant difference (p < 0.01) between the values of soil quality indices in both pasture and agricultural land used using both TDS and MDS, which indicates the use of MDS instead of TDS can be used to assess soil quality in the studied area. According to the results of this research it can be concluded that agricultural practices decrease soil quality.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X22004459Soil qualityLand useAgriculturePasture
spellingShingle Fariba Samaei
Hojat Emami
Amir Lakzian
Assessing soil quality of pasture and agriculture land uses in Shandiz county, northwestern Iran
Ecological Indicators
Soil quality
Land use
Agriculture
Pasture
title Assessing soil quality of pasture and agriculture land uses in Shandiz county, northwestern Iran
title_full Assessing soil quality of pasture and agriculture land uses in Shandiz county, northwestern Iran
title_fullStr Assessing soil quality of pasture and agriculture land uses in Shandiz county, northwestern Iran
title_full_unstemmed Assessing soil quality of pasture and agriculture land uses in Shandiz county, northwestern Iran
title_short Assessing soil quality of pasture and agriculture land uses in Shandiz county, northwestern Iran
title_sort assessing soil quality of pasture and agriculture land uses in shandiz county northwestern iran
topic Soil quality
Land use
Agriculture
Pasture
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X22004459
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AT amirlakzian assessingsoilqualityofpastureandagriculturelandusesinshandizcountynorthwesterniran