STANLEY KOMBRA, K. S. AHLAWAT, CHHAVI SIROHI, K. K. BHARDWAJ, CHARAN SINGH, SNEH YADAV AND RITAMBHARA
Eastern highlands province, P. O. Box 112, Goroka 441, Papua New Guinea
Department of Forestry, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar-125004 (Haryana), India
Department of Soil Science, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar-125004 (Haryana), India
*(e-mail : stkombra@yahoo.com)
(Received : 7 February 2022; Accepted : 19 March 2022)

SUMMARY

A field experiment was conducted to study the effect of eucalypts-based agroforestry system intercropped with berseem and oat on soil moisture status. In this study, the available soil moisture content increased substantially at different distances from tree line (1.5, 2.5 and 3.5 m). Minimum soil moisture content (5.4%) was recorded under berseem intercropped with eucalypts at 0-15 cm soil depth before 7^th irrigation at 1.5 m distance from the tree line; however, maximum moisture content (24.8%) was found at 30-45 cm soil depth after 7 days of 1^st irrigation in sole berseem (without tree). In an oat-eucalypts cropping system, minimum soil moisture content (6.5%) was observed at 0-15 cm soil depth before 3^rd irrigation at 1.5 m distance from the tree line, while the maximum moisture content (26.2%) was recorded at 30-45 cm soil depth after 7 days of 1^st irrigation. The moisture content also showed an increasing trend with the increase in soil depths.

Key words: Eucalypts, berseem, oat, soil moisture, irrigation, tree line distance

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