Abstract:
Soil is a vital natural resource that supports life on Earth and maintains environmental
balance. Among the Soil properties, biological properties play major role in ecosystem
maintenance and are influenced by different land use systems. This study aimed to assess the
impact of different land use systems on soil biological properties in the Vavuniya District, Sri
Lanka. Soil samples were collected from six different land use systems: organic, inorganic,
integrated nutrient management (INM), forest, permaculture, and bare land at two depths, surface
and subsurface. The experimental design was a completely Randomized Design with three
replicates. The following parameters were measured: colony counts, respiration, microbial
biomass carbon, and organic matter. The data were analysed using ANOVA (SAS 9.4) at the
0.05 significance level, followed by Duncan’s mean separation test. Results showed significant
variation in the tested soil biological properties between land use systems. Forest, permaculture
and organic land uses were recorded significantly higher colony counts, respiration, microbial
biomass and organic matter content compared to bare and inorganic land uses, whereas INM lay
in between. Between different depths, biological activity was significantly higher in surface soils
than subsurface soils. Overall, this study highlights that organic and permaculture land use
systems increased soil biological parameters similar to those of forest. Therefore, findings
suggest that soil biological properties can be improved through sustainable soil management.
