Bhavana Tomar, Pradipta Ranjan Pradhan, Varsha Pandey, Tirunima Patle, Shiv Singh Tomar, Kaushal Kumar Yadav and Arpita Sharma
Abstract
Land use systems significantly influence soil physical properties particularly in semi-arid alluvial soils where intensive agriculture and land degradation coexist. The present study assessed the effect of different land use systems on soil physical properties in the GwaliorâChambal Region of Madhya Pradesh, India. Five dominant land use systems, namelyriceâwheat, vegetable, forest, agri-horticulture, and ravine, were evaluated using GPS based soil sampling. In these land use systems, composites oil samples were analysed for particle size distribution, structural stability index (SI), bulk density (BD), particle density (PD) and porosity following standard analytical procedures. The results revealed significant variations in soil properties across the systems (p ? 0.05). Sand fractions varied from 34.68% to 60.20%, silt from 12.71% to 21.94%, and clay from 19.38% to 32.28%, with most soils falling into sandy clay loam texture. Ravine land use system exhibited the highest sand content, whereas forest and agri-horticulture systems showed significantly higher structural stability. The BD values ranged from 1.29 to 1.48 Mg m-³, and porosity varied between 44.45 and 51.54%. Vegetable land use system had the lowest bulk density and highest porosity, suggesting better soil structure, closely followed by forest and agri-horticulture systems. Conversely, riceâ wheat and ravine systems exhibited elevated bulk density and reduced porosity, reflecting soil compaction and ongoing degradation. Overall, the research highlights the benefit of diverse and protective land use systems in improving soil physical quality and promoting sustainable land management in these vulnerable semi-arid environments.