Effect of integrated watershed management on vegetation cover, soil organic carbon and soil fertility in mid-hills of Nepal

Main Authors: Kishor ARYAL, Prakash Singh THAPA, Pasang TAMANG, Diwakar BHATTARAI, Saroj Kumar CHAUDHARY, Ram Asheshwar MANDAL
Format: Article Journal
Bahasa: eng
Terbitan: , 2019
Subjects:
Online Access: https://zenodo.org/record/3239260
Daftar Isi:
  • This research was objectively carried out to evaluate the effect of integrated management on watersheds. Thus, well managed and poorly managed watersheds were selected; where samples from three altitudinal ranges, four land use types and three consecutive soil depths were taken. Changes in vegetation cover were also analysed. The result showed an increase in vegetation cover by 27.82 % in well managed, and decrease in vegetation cover by 38.33% in poorly managed watershed from 1992 to 2015. Soil organic carbon was found highest (43.57 t/ha) in shrublands of altitudinal range of 1700 -2000 m of well managed, and lowest (3.94 t/ha) in shrublands of below 1700m in poorly managed watershed. This paper summarises that the integrated watershed management is crucial for increasing organic carbon content at the watershed level, as a contribution to climate change mitigation.