What is Soils and its Variability?

Soil and Soil Variability:

Soils are very important from the point of view of agriculture, as they are the main ingredient which are important for the purpose of growing crops. Since they are different in quality and composition, different soils are important for growing different crops based on their physical, chemical and biological properties.

Like red soil and alluvial soil being iron rich and potassium rich respectively, Alluvial soil is good for crops like paddy, sugarcane and plantain while red soil is suited for growing grams, groundnut and castor seed, There are soil testing laboratories which give the farmers an idea of the type of soil which their land has, which is useful as the maximum productivity can be achieved only when the right crop is grown on the right soil.

For soils lacking in an particular nutrient, or soils which are losing some nutrient due to intensive farming, fertilizers rich in that particular nutrient are added. Even soil erosion due to wind and rain also causes soil depletion. Soil of different areas are different in quality and depth.

Types of Soil

Soil is very important for agricultural production. It provides nutrition to plant for its growth. The soil on the earth’s curst found in different form and of different depth across regions. The Indian soil classified into variety of groups.These are:

Red Soil: The soil contains significant amount of iron oxides, it gives the red color to the soil. The soil is deficient in fertility and organic matter. It is found mainly in the state of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Goa, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Daman and Diu, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, etc.

Laterite Soil: It is yellowish red or red in color and contains more organic matter than red soil. It is found in the states of Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Eastern Orissa, Maharashtra, West Bengal, etc. It is useful in growing tea, rubber, coffee in upper hill areas and paddy in lower hill areas.

Black Soil: Its color ranges between dark brown and deep black and contains high amount of organic matter, Its depth variation is very high, Most of the typical black soil obtained from Deccan traps. It is existed in Maharashtra, in some parts of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, The soil is generally highly fertile.

Alluvial Soil: It is dark colored salty soil and generally formed by the river and delta deposits. It is mainly found in the river basins of West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Assam also formed in the deltaic areas of Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Kerala. Its contribution to agriculture is large in India.

Desert Soil: Its color varies between yellowish brown to pale yellow it contains less organic matter and many soluble minerals, In descending order it is mainly prevalent in Western Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab in between Indus River and Aravali range.

Terai Soil: This is found in the hills of J&K, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal, It is formed by the downfall of materials from Himalayan ranges.

Brown Soil: It is brown in color and contains moderate quantity of organic matter, Its nature varies from neutral to slightly acidic.

Saline and Alkaline Soil: It contains huge amount of soluble salts which make it uneconomic for cultivation, it causes low output of crops.

Peat Soils: This is usually created from brackish water sediment and contains high quantity of organic matter.