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

• Main Authors: Naveen Ch. Pandey, Lalit M. Tewari, G.C. Joshi, Brij M. Upreti
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Federation of Eurasian Soil Science Societies 2018-07-01
• Series: Eurasian Journal of Soil Science
• Subjects: Soil physico-chemical characterization; Betalghat region; banj-oak; chir-pine; sal forest; Kumaun Himalaya
• Online Access: http://ejss.fesss.org/10.18393/ejss.435082

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.