Impact of Land use Conversion from Paddy Fields to Apple Orchards on Soil Physical Properties in Kashmir, India

There has been considerable increase in establishing the orchards on the elsewhere paddy fields from last few decades and considerable change in the soil properties are obvious to witness with this land use change. In order to ascertain the possible change in soil properties survey was carried out in three apple growing districts Baramulla, Pulwamma and Shopian. Soil samples from three depths (0-30, 30-60, 60-90 cm) were taken from both conventional and paddy converted apple orchards. The soil texture varied from Clay loam to silty clay loam. The mean of bulk density, porosity, aggregate stability, and soil water content in conventional and converted apple orchards was 1.109 Mg m-3 and 1.107 Mg m-3, 49.593 % and 50.860 %, 0.409 mm and 0.280 mm, 14.274% and 13.940 %, respectively. Further, it was observed that bulk density, particle density, and porosity showed no significant difference in conventional and converted apple orchards, whereas, the aggregate stability and soil water content was higher in conventional orchards as compared to converted apple orchards.