Soil erosion is a serious menace and can adversely affect the soil characteristics and crop yield in the foothills of Shivaliks. The present study was conducted at ZRSKA, Ballowal-Saunkhri, Nawanshar, with the objective of studying the effect of soil management practices on some soil characteristics and yield of maize crop. The profile properties showed an increase in bulk density, clay content and cation exchange capacity by 4.2, 11.9 and 7.9%, respectively, in severely eroded A-horizon over the moderately eroded A-horizon. In contrast, there is a tendency for a decrease in water holding capacity, silt content, organic C content, available N and P by 6.2, 33.3, 5.2, 12.6 and 20.5%, respectively, in severely eroded A-horizon, as compared to moderately eroded A-horizon. The different soil management practices , viz., contour bunding and cultivation across the slope with recommended doses of inorganic fertilizers (T₂), cultivation of leveled land with application of recommended doses of inorganic fertilizers (T₃), and cultivation of leveled lands with application of recommended doses of inorganic fertilizers + farm yard manure ( T₄) significantly improved the status of organic C, total N, available P, citric acid soluble P, CEC , Ca and Mg contents, respectively, over the control (T₁) .

Soil erosion by water poses a serious threat to agricultural production in the foothills of Shivaliks (Hadda et al., 2002), which comprise undulating terrain and structurally poor soils. Because of this, very little water enters into these soils during intense storms of short duration. It results in overland flow or physical degradation of soils and carries away nutrients to the tune of 106.5 kg ha^-1 year^-1 in the area (Singh et al., 1984). The soil erosion, thus, reduces the productivity of land and adversely affects the environment. Extremely high erosion rates that directly damage the crops or affect yields on a short-term basis have a self-regulating mechanism, i.e., farmers will invest in erosion control up to the amount they can foresee advantages or short-term productivity loss. The most optimistic scenario would be the addition of fertilizers, organic manures and crop residues to the topsoil, genetic enhancement of crop plants and improved education of farmers to totally compensate erosion effects or crop productivity loss (Sparovek, 1988; and Sparovek et al., 1999). However, even considering this scenario, erosion rates in tropical agro-ecosystems are generally much higher than the rates of soil formation.

Erosion of cropland degrades the productivity of soils both qualitatively and quantitatively. Water erosion affects several soil properties like Topsoil Depth (TSD), Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) content, nutrient status, texture and structure, available Water Holding Capacity (WHC) and water transmission characteristics (Pierce and Lal, 1994). Therefore, the soil conservation strategies must be based on covering the soil to protect it from raindrop impact, increasing infiltration capacity, improving aggregate stability and decreasing the surface runoff.

Soil And Water Sciences Journal, Conservation Practices, Profile Characteristics, Soil Quality, Water Erosion, Soil Erosion, Tropical Agro-Ecosystem, Topsoil Depth, TSD, Soil Organic Carbon, SOC, Multivariate Analysis Technique, Multivariate Analysis of Variance, MANOVA, Analysis of Variance, ANOVA.