Deterioration of soil structure, poor infiltration, and low aeration is caused due to high Na% (>60 %) in agriculture water supply.
Besides, continuous applications of inorganic fertilizers alone resulted in deterioration of soil health in terms of soil physical, chemical and biological properties (Getachew et al. 2014b).
Generally, water with Na% of >60% may result in Na accumulation and deterioration of soil structure, infiltration and aeration rates (Inayathulla and Paul 2013).
Before 1970s, farming was mainly carried out using low-tech methods, leading to unproductive practices and overexploitation and deterioration of soil.
Average VESS scores were 2.5 and 3.0 for pasture to sugarcane, respectively, showing a deterioration of soil structural quality following LUC.
This has, in many cases, led to the deterioration of soil ecosystems and decreased vegetation cover, and has exacerbated water shortages.
These would enable sustainable management of crop loss through elimination of excessive and indiscriminate use of agrochemicals causing deterioration of soil health, degradation of agro-ecosystem, environmental pollution, and resistance in pathogens [33].
Conventional farm systems have been characterized by a high input of chemical fertilizer leading to qualitative deterioration of soil as well as agricultural yield (Diacono and Montemurro 2010; Singh et al. 2007).
A reliable approach for the rapid and simple estimation of global microbial respiration of soils is described for determining trends in improvement or deterioration of soil quality for various environmental scenarios.
Correlation matrix and PCA showed positive correlation between the deterioration of soil structure after LUC and reductions in the size of macrofaunal community, especially termites (rspearman = 0.36; P = 0.012).
