Land use change from pasture to irrigated and dry farming arable land and its effect on soil properties in Miyaneh region, Iran

Soil quality assessment is necessary for identifying the effects of different management systems on agriculture and natural resources including rang and forest degradation. Such studies can be useful for identifying sustainable practices in each region with intention of preventing land degradation, providing sustainable crop production and environmental protection. Land use changes play an important role in global change phenomena. Nowadays changing forests and pastures to agricultural land use are a worldwide problem that results in environment degradation and global climate change. This study was conducted to determine some soil properties due to land use changing in Miyaneh region, northwest Iran. The studied properties were soil texture, soil organic carbon, soil pH and soil calcium carbonate in three land use types of pasture, dry farming and irrigated wheat. The results showed that soil texture in top soil changed from silt clay loam in pasture to sandy loam and silt loam in cultivated lands. The values for soil organic carbon were highest in pasture (1.2%) and decreased to 0.9% and 0.5% in dry farming and cultivated land use, respectively. pH values in dry farming soils (7.6) were lower than those of the cultivated soils (7.9). However, soil calcium carbonate percentage was the highest in cultivated (22%) and lowest in pasture (8%). In conclusion, results showed adverse effects of land use change on soil quality.