Land degradation is becoming a serious problem in the west coast region of India where one of the world's eight biodiversity hotspots, the ‘Western Ghats’, is present. Poor land management practices and high rainfall have led to increasing problems associated with land degradation. A long-term (13-year) experiment was done to evaluate the impact of soil and water conservation measures on soil carbon sequestration and soil quality at three different depths under cashew nut cultivation on a 19% slope. Five soil and water conservation measures - continuous contour trenches, staggered contour trenches, half-moon terraces, semi-elliptical trenches, and graded trenches all with vegetative barriers of Stylosanthes scabra and Vetiveria zizanoides and control were evaluated for their influence on soil properties, carbon sequestration, and soil quality under cashews. The soil and water conservation measures improved significantly the soil organic carbon, soil organic carbon stock, carbon sequestration rate and microbial activity compared to the control condition (without any measures). Among the measures tested, continuous contour trenches with vegetative barriers outperformed the others with respect to soil organic carbon stock, sequestration rate, and microbial activity. The lower metabolic quotient with the measures compared to the control indicated alleviation of environmental stress on microbes. Using principal component analysis and a correlation matrix, a minimum dataset was identified as the soil available nitrogen, bulk density, basal soil respiration, soil pH, acid phosphatase activity, and soil available boron and these were the most important soil properties controlling the soil quality. Four soil quality indices using two summation methods (additive and weighted) and two scoring methods (linear and non-linear) were developed using the minimum dataset. A linear weighted soil quality index was able to statistically differentiate the effect of soil and water conservation measures from that of the control. The highest value of the soil quality index of 0.98 was achieved with continuous contour trenches with a vegetative barrier. The results of the study indicate that soil and water conservation measures for cashews are a potential strategy to improve the soil carbon sequestration and soil quality along with improving crop productivity and reducing the erosion losses.

在印度西海岸地区，土地退化正在成为一个严重的问题，那里是世界上八个生物多样性热点之一，即“西高止山脉”。不良的土地管理做法和高降雨导致与土地退化有关的问题日益严重。进行了一个长期（13年）实验，以评估腰果在19％坡度上种植的三个不同深度处的水土保持措施对土壤固碳和土壤质量的影响。五项水土保持措施-连续的等高线沟，交错的等高线沟，半月阶地，半椭圆沟和坡地沟，全部带有营养屏障，包括Stylosanthes scabra和Vetiveria zizanoides评价和对照对腰果下土壤特性，固碳和土壤质量的影响。与对照相比（不采取任何措施），水土保持措施显着改善了土壤有机碳，土壤有机碳储量，固碳速率和微生物活性。在所测试的措施中，就土壤有机碳储量，固存速率和微生物活性而言，具有营养屏障的连续等高线沟槽优于其他屏障。与对照相比，这些措施的代谢商较低，表明微生物的环境压力有所减轻。使用主成分分析和相关矩阵，可以确定一个最小数据集，包括土壤有效氮，容重，基础土壤呼吸，土壤pH，酸性磷酸酶活性和土壤有效硼，这些是控制土壤质量的最重要的土壤特性。使用最小数据集开发了使用两种求和方法（加法和加权）和两种评分方法（线性和非线性）的四种土壤质量指数。线性加权土壤质量指数能够从统计学上区分水土保持措施与对照组的效果。连续的带有营养屏障的等高线沟达到了0.98的最高土壤质量指数。研究结果表明，腰果的水土保持措施是改善土壤碳固存和土壤质量，同时提高作物生产力和减少侵蚀损失的潜在策略。和土壤有效硼，这些是控制土壤质量的最重要的土壤特性。使用最小数据集，开发了使用两种求和方法（加法和加权）和两种评分方法（线性和非线性）的四个土壤质量指数。线性加权土壤质量指数能够从统计学上区分水土保持措施与对照组的效果。连续的带有营养屏障的等高线沟达到了0.98的最高土壤质量指数。研究结果表明，腰果的水土保持措施是改善土壤碳固存和土壤质量，同时提高作物生产力和减少侵蚀损失的潜在策略。和土壤有效硼，这些是控制土壤质量的最重要的土壤特性。使用最小数据集，开发了使用两种求和方法（加法和加权）和两种评分方法（线性和非线性）的四个土壤质量指数。线性加权土壤质量指数能够从统计学上区分水土保持措施与对照组的效果。连续的带有营养屏障的等高线沟达到了0.98的最高土壤质量指数。研究结果表明，腰果的水土保持措施是改善土壤碳固存和土壤质量，同时提高作物生产力和减少侵蚀损失的潜在策略。