Scientists from Nagaland University led a multi-institute research team that conducted an extensive study on how diverse land use practices are transforming soil health in Dhansiripar region of the state.
The research was undertaken by Nagaland University jointly with researchers from ICAR-Indian Agricultural Statistics Research Institute, University of California San Francisco, Dibrugarh University, Tocklai Tea Research Institute and Diphu Medical College and Hospital.The study sheds new light on the urgent need for sustainable land management to protect agricultural productivity and environmental stability.The research team assessed soil across six villages – Amaluma, Dhansirpar, Doyapur, Kiyeto, Melongmen and Razhaphe – capturing the complex interactions between local farming systems and soil characteristics.The study not only contributes to scientific understanding but also has wide societal implications, from informing local farming practices and supporting policy development to enhancing environmental conservation and boosting long-term food security.The researchers aim to generate data-driven insights that help farmers improve crop yields, support sustainable agriculture, enhance local livelihoods and contribute to national goals of environmental resilience.The team examined how rapid agricultural expansion, urbanisation and forest conversion are impacting essential soil properties, including soil acidity (pH), bulk density, porosity, water-holding capacity, organic carbon and nutrient availability.The team found that prevailing practices in the region are contributing to soil degradation, declining fertility and heightened erosion risks-issues that farmers themselves raised during initial field surveys.The findings were published in Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, an international peer-reviewed journal brought out by the global academic publisher, Springer that focuses on scientific methods, tools and data used to track environmental quality.
Highlighting the need for such studies, Prof. Jagadish K Patnaik, Vice Chancellor, Nagaland University, said, “The research team reports strongly acidic soils, declining structural stability and sharp variations in nutrient availability across six surveyed villages. The University urges immediate adoption of sustainable land-management practices to prevent further deterioration and safeguard the region’s agricultural productivity and environmental health.”A major focus of the study was understanding how soil properties differ among lowland paddy fields, cultivated agricultural plots, orchards and forest areas. Researchers employed advanced tools such as multivariate analysis of variance, principal component analysis and cluster analysis to quantify variations and pinpoint the underlying causes.
