ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to integrate farmer-led folk soil types with that of soil quality index (SQI) and to explain their relationship with productivity of bamboo stands in folk soils. Soil quality assessment provides a basic framework to evaluate the sustainability of agricultural and land management systems. Soil physical and chemical parameters are evaluated to ascertain validity of folk soil type. But unless the folk soil type is correlated to productivity status of such land-uses through one or more SQI, the individual physical and chemical properties are often of little value to assess the overall soil health. In northeast India, in the farmer soil types, soil appearance describes its color, texture, and stoniness characteristics of the topsoil layer. Bamboo productivity was measured through recording the production of new culms per clump for all folk soil types in Northeast India. The indigenous people have classified soils under bamboo on the basis of their physical appearance for sustainable management of bamboo ecosystems.
