Not AvailableA study was conducted to examine the impact of
land-use on soil properties in humid subtropical India. Soil
samples were collected from two depths 0β20 cm (surface
layer) and 20β40 cm (sub-surface layer) of soil from four
land-uses (viz. natural forest, tea plantation, horticultural
system and agriculture) located on varying slopes and
examined for particle size distribution, pH, organic carbon
(OC), exchangeable cations (Ca, Mg, Na and K), microbial
biomass carbon (MBC) and microbial biomass nitrogen
(MBN). There were significant difference in sand, silt and
clay with land-uses in the surface and sub-surface layers
except the clay fraction in the sub-surface layer in all the
land-uses. OC (2.17%) was greatest in forest soil, followed
by soil from horticultural system, tea plantation and agriculture.
The greatest Ca (3.8 cmol/kg) and K (0.7 cmol/kg)
were found in the forest, whereas Mg (1.5 cmol/kg) was
greatest in horticultural system. The MBC and MBN in the
surface layer were highest (237.6 and 80.4 mg/kg,
respectively) in the forest and lowest (135.0 and 46.8 mg/
kg, respectively) in the agriculture, which was subjected to
intense human activities. OC, MBC and MBN declined
with increasing soil depth in all the land-uses.Not Availabl