Assessment of Soil Quality Indicators of Channegowdarapalya Micro-watershed, Tumkur, Karnataka

Abstract

A soil quality assessment is made in this paper by collecting observations on 16 soil physical, chemical and biological parameters in a semi-arid Alfisol in Channegowdarapalya micro-watershed in Karnataka. The assessment was made by developing a soil quality index (SQI) based on relationships among pairs of soil parameters, followed by principal component analysis. The study indicated about superiority of soil pH, exchangeable calcium, DTPA extractable zinc (Zn), organic carbon and nitrogen (N) which have significantly contributed to the SQI. Four leading principal components were significant based on eigen value of ‘more than 1’ and explained 70.7% of variance in soil parameters. Soil pH contributed maximum of 37.7%, followed by exchangeable calcium (33.7%), DTPA extractable Zn (11.2%), (9.3%) and N (8.15%) to the soil quality based on the study.