Understanding the effect of shifting cultivation practice (slash-burn-cultivation-abandonment) on soil physicochemical properties in the North-eastern Himalayan region

Shifting cultivation (jhum cultivation), a common practice of converting forest land into agricultural by slash and burn is threatening the ecosystem. This study assesses effect shifting cycles on soil quality in North-eastern Himalayan region using minimum properties. To achieve this goal, index (SQI) approach multivariate techniques were used for surface (0-30 cm) subsurface (30-70 layers soils forest, jhum land, fallow areas. The highest variability among uses was found clay content, SOC (soil organic carbon), exchangeable Mg K, CEC (cation exchange capacity), Ca/Mg relationship. On contrary, lowest variation recorded bulk density (BD), porosity, pH. results principal component analysis (PCA) show BD, texture, available nitrogen (Nav), phosphorus (Pav), potassium (Kav), calcium (Ca) sodium (Na) as major indicators quality. indicated that have lower when compared to lands. Although lands better forests, their continued without any fertilisation subsequent depletion nutrients can cause degradation observed use these selected assessment useful terms saving time costs.