Soil Quality Assessment for Different Land Use in the Panchase Area of Western Nepal

Soil quality management helps to maintain biological productivity; air and water quality; and human habitation and health. As improper land management can deteriorate soil function, the evaluation of soil quality for different land use is necessary. To evaluate soil quality for different land use types in the Panchase area, soil quality index was computed on the basis of the soil management assessment framework. Protected forest has the highest soil quality index (0.95) followed by community forest (0.91), pasture (0.88), khet (0.81), and bari (0.79). Available phosphorus and soil organic carbon play major roles in making significant differences in the SQI among the different land use types. Less anthropogenic impact and vegetation in forest land result in better soil quality, whereas attempts to increase productivity in cultivated land degrade the soil quality. The proper application of fertilizer and giving priority to organic farming is recommended to improve soil quality.