Soil Fertility Status of Kiar-Nagali Micro-Watershed in Solan District of Himachal Pradesh

摘要

Soil fertility affects considerably the land use of any agro-ecosystem. The inherent fertility of soil is controlled by the set of pedogenic factors that vary from soil to soil and declining soil fertility is the main cause for low land productivity.Present day exploitive agriculture, with involved efforts to increase crop yield has not only depleted our soils of their nutrient reserve, but also resulted in the emergence of a number of new nutrient deficiencies. Estimates by Sharma et al. (2001) showed that croplands in the mountain province of Himachal Pradesh in the Western Himalayas have been depleting N and K from the soil system at an alarming rate. The situation of P seems to be slightly satisfactory with positive balance. However, information available on these aspects in the mid-hill conditions of Himachal Pradesh is highly sporadic and inconclusive. Therefore, an attempt has been made to assess the status of N, P and K in the hill soils of North-Western Himalayas.