| Local knowledge of farmers has great implications in present days for providing insight into soil characters and sustainable land management. The small scale farmers of rural regions have indeed conserved the indigenous and traditional facts since past generations that eventually redefined as local soil knowledge. Hence, keeping in view, the socioeconomic structure of Barak Valley region, the grassland managers of agricultural communities could be recognized as a great storehouse of traditional knowledge and synchronizing with scientific support further play a vital role towards various land recuperation processes. The study was carried out at Dargakona village, Barak Valley, Assam, northeast India with an objective to assess the database of farmers’ nomenclature and information of soils in managed grassland sites; thereafter comparing local knowledge with analytical study of soils. The smallholder village people were interviewed with the aid of standard questionnaire who nomenclated four soil types (‘lal’, ‘balu’, ‘athail’ and ‘citta’). Further, the farmers’ soil types corroborated the scientific observation of grassland soils. Bulk density of the soils studied increased progressively with the increase in depth of soil column in various sites. The textural class of lal and balu soils indicated variation from sandy loam to sandy clay loam. The athail and citta soils ranged from loam to clay loam and sandy clay loam to clay loam respectively. Water holding capacity recorded highest in athail and lowest in balu soils. The pH of soils revealed acidic nature irrespective of different soil types. Soil organic carbon content of top soils exhibited maximum values and gradually decline in the sub-soils across study area. As endorsed by farmers’ statement, the strong soils were athail type with more organic carbon content. The study concluded that the farming society experienced diversification in their soils which is the consequence of definite basis of traditional wisdom. Hence, proper documentation of the folk knowledge systems with subsequent scientific validation is needed for better land use, management and rehabilitation of degraded soils.
Keywords: Local Soil Knowledge, Imperata Grassland, Farmer, Local people, Texture
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