Soil health assessment under protected cultivation of vegetable crops in North West Himalayas

Soil health is a concept that integrates soil physical, chemical and biological indicators into a framework for soil resource evaluation. Quantitative assessment of soil health is required to determine the sustainability of land use in terms of environmental quality and plant productivity. The main objective of the study was to find out the impact of intensive cultivation on soil health under polyhouses condition of mid hill zone of Himachal Pradesh. The soil samples were collected from polyhouses and adjacent open fields from three districts of Himachal Pradesh, India (Mandi, Solan and Sirmour) and were analysed for physical (bulk density, particle density and porosity), chemical (pH, EC, organic carbon, cation exchange capacity, bicarbonate, chloride, available N, P, K, extractable calcium, magnesium and S04-S, DTPA extractable Zn, Fe, Mn and Cu) and biological (microbial biomass C) properties. All the soil indicators were combined to calculate soil health index (SHI). The soil health indicators like EC, OC, P, S, chloride and microbial biomass had more influence on soil health under polyhouse condition. Majority of the soils in polyhouse conditions were in high soil health (57%) of the surveyed samples, followed by very high (40%) and medium health soil (3%). Soil health was found to be affected by the management practices adopted by the farmers and the extent of fertilizer used over a period of time.