Of the various types of land degradation in India, ravine is one of the severe forms. These ravines, extensively spread over an area of ~ 4000 sq. kms are also called the Chambal badlands. Geologically, it is one of the four severely dissected landscapes within the Middle Alluvial Ganga Plains (MGAP). Over time, gully erosion in the ravines get aggravated, rendering the lands unproductive. Gradual spatial expansion of badlands, by not just loss of topsoil, but also anthropogenic disturbances has been noted as a major environmental challenge, particularly in arid and semi-arid India._x000D_
Through this abstract, we present the case of Morena district, in the Central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, wherein we used a combination of land reclamation measure such as tree species plantation and soil-moisture conservation to restore the degraded ravines especially through site-specific habitat improvement models. Plantation of about 7 tree species (Acacia catechu, Acacia tortilis, Azadirachta indica, Anogeissus pendula, Commiphora wightii, Aegle marmelos and Emblica officinalis) in 22.68 ha of land has been carried out during post-monsoon of year 2022. The plantation was carried out by way of a randomized block design (RBD), with three replicate blocks containing treatments for soil amendments. Three types of bio-fertilizers that contains Rhizobium, Azotobacter and Azospirillum in its 3 graded doses (5%, 10% and 15%) are being used for soil amendments. Three mulches such as wheat husk, stone pebbles and leaf litters are being used to conserve the soil moisture and enhance the nutrients status of soil. As a whole, there are a total of 27 treatment combinations. Our initial results suggest that land reclamation measures such as plantation with native tree species and construction of check-dams in response to the severe soil erosion and gully formation, has proven to be 85% success in terms of providing vegetation recovery, soil health improvement and carbon storage.
Muthu Rajkumar and Avinash Jain
ICFRE-Tropical Forest Research Institute, Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh), India
ID Abstract: 902