Effect of Land Use Shifting and Overgrazing on Loss of Selected Soil Phosphorus Forms in Two Regions of Vanak Watershed

The forms and dynamics of soil phosphorus can be greatly affected by land use changes, which often involve changes in vegetation cover, biomass production and nutrient cycling in the ecosystem. Present research evaluates the impact of land use change on the amount of total organic and inorganic P, labile, moderately labile and nonlabile P pools in semiarid soils of central Zagros. Samples were collected from surface soils (0-10 cm) of i) of moderately degraded pasture (20-25% plant cover), ii) highly degraded pasture (5-10 % plant cover), and iii) cultivated field (10 years) in Soolegan sub watershed and i) moderately degraded pasture (25-30 % plant cover) and ii) highly degraded pasture (5-10 % plant cover) in Sadat Abad sub-watershed. Significantly (P<0.05) low amounts of total organic P were found following cultivation (23.9%) and overgrazing (18.2 and 40.8 %) in Soolegan and Sadat Abad, respectively. The largest depletion of labile organic P (NaHCO3-Po) (72.3%) and moderately labile organic P (H2SO4-Po plus NaOH-Pi) (24.3%) were observed in cultivated rainfed land in Soolegan. Overgrazing led to decrease in labile organic P (42.1 and 64.4%), moderately labile organic P (13.9 and 35.7%) and nonlabile organic P (NaOH-Po) including moderately resistant and resistant organic P (12.9 and 44.4%) in Soolegan and Sadat Abad, respectively. Our results showed that degradation of natural plant cover cause to depletion in the soil P pools. Decreasing the amounts of moderately resistant and resistant P pools led to a decline in soil productivity and fertility.