NABARD Grade A
Complete Notes on
Soil
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SOIL
1. What is soil?
The loose material or upper layer of the mantle rock (regolith- a layer of lose
heterogenous material covering solid rock) consisting mainly of very small
particles and humus which can support the growth of plants is known as soil.
2. Composition of soil: -
In general soil is made up of four elements: -
a. Inorganic or mineral fraction (derived from parent material)
b. Organic matter (decayed and decomposed plants and animals)
c. Air
d. Water
3. Naturally occurring soil is made up of: -
a. Parent material
b. Climate
c. Physical, chemical and biological agents (micro-organisms)
d. Land use practices
e. Time
4. Characteristics of Soil
Parent Material
• It includes hard resistant rocks such as granite, marble as well as slate
• less resistant rocks such as recent volcanic lavas and ashes, the
metamorphic rocks like schist, gneiss) and the sedimentary rocks
(sandstone, clay, silt and limestone).
• The term rock will also include clay, gravel, unconsolidated sands, alluvium
(less soil resistant).
Humus
• The structureless dark-brown end product of dead organic material found
within the soil surface is known as humus.
• Humus helps in maintenance of soil fertility and the amount of humus varies
in different soil.
Soil Texture
• Soil is characterized by the size of its particles.
• A clayey soil is fine, sandy as coarse, while silt is an intermediate.
• The standard unit for measurement of soil particles is the millimeter, but
smaller unit is micron.
Sandy Soil Between 0.05 and 0.02mm
Silty Soil Between 0.02 and 0.002mm
Clay Soil 0.002 mm in diameter.
Soil Structure
• It is the arrangement of soil particles. The way in which sand silt clay and
humus bond together to form beds is known s soil structure.
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Soil Acidity
• The acidity and alkalinity of soil is expressed in the pH value.
• pH is a scale that measures the concentration of hydrogen ion held by the
soil colloids (particles).
• A neutral soil has a pH value of about 7.2 and acid soil less than 7.2.
• A strongly alkaline soil has a pH value of about 8 or higher.
Soil Air
• The air content of soil is vital as it helps in the process of oxidation which
converts nitrogen into a form readily available to plants.
• Higher degree of oxidation consumes organic material and make soil sterile.
• Infinite bacteria present in soil need oxygen for breaking down plants and
animal and are called as aerobic.
Soil Water
• Depending on the texture of soil water moves downward by percolation.
• Movement of water into soil is called infiltration, and the downward
movement of water within the soil is called percolation, permeability or
hydraulic conductivity.
• Pore space in soil is the conduit that allows water to infiltrate and percolate.
It also serves as the storage compartment for water.
• Permeability also varies with soil texture and structure. Permeability is
generally rated from very rapid to very slow.
Soil Horizon
• It is a layer of soil which lies more or less parallel to the surface and has
fairly distinctive soil properties.
• It is a distinct layer within soil which differs chemically and/or physically
from the layer below or above.
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Soil Profile
• It is a vertical series of soil horizons from the ground surface to the
parent rock.
5. Classification of Soil in India
• The first scientific classification of Indian soil was made by Voeleker and
Leather.
• They classified soil into 4 categories:
1. Alluvial soils 2. Regur (black-earth) soils
3. Red soil 4. Lateritic soil
• Recently the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, on the basis of texture,
structure, colour, pH value and porosity has identified following types of soil
groups.
• Recent classification of Soils in India: -
1. Alluvial soils 2. Red soils
3. Regur soils 4. Desert soils
5. Laterite soils 6. Mountain soils
7. Red and Black soils 8. Grey and Brown soils
9. Sub montane soils 10. Snowfields
Alluvial Soils
• It covers about 143.1 million sq km for about 43.4 per cent of total reporting
area.
• It occurs mainly in the Satluj Ganga Brahmaputra Plains also in the valleys
of Narmada, Tapi and in the Eastern and Western coastal plains.
• They are mainly derived from the debris brought down from the Himalayas
or from silt left out by retreating sea.
• It is rich in humus, phosphoric acid, lime and organic matter but deficient in
potash.
• The colour of the soil varies from light grey to ash grey and texture is sandy
to silty-loam.
• These soils are further divided into two:
o Khadar soil
o Bhangar soil
Khadar Soil: The khadar tracts are rich in concretions, and nodules of impure
calcium carbonate or kankar. They are low lying, frequently inundated by floods
during the rainy season. In the drier areas, it also exhibits stretches of saline and
alkaline efflorescence locally known as reh, kallar or thur.
Bhangar Soil: It is above flood level and is generally well drained but contain
concretion (kankars) of impure calcium carbonate. The texture of soil varies from
loamy soil to clayey soil. It is suited to wheat, rice, maize, sugarcane, pulses,
oilseeds, barseem, fruits and vegetables.
Red Soils
• It covers second largest area of about 61 million hectares or 18.5 per cent
of total reporting area.
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• It is red in colour because of ferric oxides. The top layer is red while the
horizon below is yellowish in colour.
• The texture of soil varies from sandy to clay and loam.
• Developed on Archaean granite, these soils are also known as the omnibus
group.
• They are mainly found over the Peninsula from Tamil Nadu in the south to
Bundelkhand in the north, and raajmahal in the east to kathiawad and
Kachchh in the west.
• These soils are also found in tracts in western Tamil Nadu, Karnataka,
southern Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa and
scattered patches in Rajasthan.
• They are porous and friable and have absence of lime, kankar and
carbonates and small quantity of soluble salts.
• Intense leaching is a menace to these soils.
• These soils are poor at uplands as it is thin, gravelly, sandy or stony and
porous but better in lower plains and valleys as it rich, deep, dark colored
fertile loams.
• They are devoted to wheat, cotton, pulses, tobacco, millets, oilseeds potato
and orchards.
Black soil/Regur (cotton-soil) Soils
• Internationally known as tropical chernozems are third largest soil group in
India.
• They are spread about 50 million hectares accounting for 15 per cent of the
total reporting area of the country.
• They are considered to be mature soils and colour of these soils varies from
deep black to light black.
• They get their parent material from the weathered rocks of Cretaceous lava
and have high water retaining capacity.
• They are highly productive and well suited for production of cotton, pulses,
millets, castor, tobacco, sugarcane, vegetable and citrus fruits.
• The texture of soil is clayey and are rich in iron, lime, calcium, potash,
aluminium and magnesium.
• They are deficient in nitrogen, phosphorous and organic matter.
• They are spread over the greater parts of Gujarat, Maharasthra, western
Madhya Pradesh, north western Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan
Jharkhand.
Desert Soil
• They over about 15 million hectares and account for 4.42 percent of the
total reporting area.
• They are developed under arid and semi-arid conditions.
• They are found mainly in Rajasthan, west of Aravalli’s, northern Gujarat
western part of Haryana and south western part of Punjab.
• They are sandy to gravelly with low organic matter, low nitrogen and varying
percentage of calcium carbonate.
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• These soils contain high percentage of soluble salts but have low moisture
content and water retaining capacity.
• On irrigation they give good agricultural returns.
• They are mainly devoted to bajra, pulses, guar, fodder and less water
requiring crops.
To be continued…
Laterite Soils
• It covers about 12.2 million hectares accounting for about 3.7 per cent of
total reporting area.
• Its name has been derived from the latin word “Later” which means brick.
• These soils, when wet are soft and quite hard and cloddy on dying.
• These are the typical soils of monsoon climate.
• The soil is red in colour due to the presence of iron oxide.
• It is developed mainly in the highland arears of plateau.
• The soil is acidic in higher areas and less in the low-lying areas.
• The soil is rich in iron and aluminium, but poor in nitrogen, potash,
potassium lime and organic matter.
• They have low fertility but respond well to manuring and are mainly devoted
to rice, ragi, sugarcane, and cashewnuts.
• They are found mainly in the hills of Western Ghats, Eastern Ghats,
Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Assam, Garo hills of Meghalaya.
Mountain Soils
• It covers about 18.2 million hectares or about 5.5 per cent of the total
reporting area of the country.
• These soils are generally immature and unsystematic.
• The colour of soil is dark brown and texture vary from silt loam to loam.
• These soils are found in the valleys and hill slopes of the Himalayas between
200 and 300 meters.
• They can be divided into: loamy podzols and high-altitude soils.
• Podzols are acidic with low humus content and occupies the mid-latitude
zone in the Himalayas.
• The High-altitude soils, depending on the forest cover, slope, and rainfall
are classified as brown earth type and red loam.
• They occupy Assam, Darjeeling, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.
Red and Black Soils
• It is found in isolated patches in Bundelkhand, Rajasthan and Gujarat.
• They are less productive but perform well under irrigation.
• They are devoted to maize, bajra, millets, pulses and oilseeds.
Grey and Brown soils
• They have been formed by the weathering of granite, gneiss and quartzite.
• These are loose and friable soils.
• Due to presence of iron oxide these soils vary from red to black to brown
• They are found in Rajasthan and Gujarat.
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Sub montane Soils
• Formed by depositing eroded material from the Shiwaliks and the Lesser
Himalayas.
• The soil is fertile and supports luxuriant growth of forests.
• But clearing of forests for agricultural purposes has made this area highly
susceptible to soil erosion.
• Found in Tarai region stretching from J & K to Assam in form of narrow belt.
Saline and Alkaline Soils
• The saline soils are characterised by the presence of sodium chloride and
sodium sulphate.
• In these soils, the saline and alkaline efflorescence appears on the surface
as a layer of white salt through capillary action.
• They are known by different names in different parts of the country. They
are called as relz, kallar, usar, rakar, thur, karl, and chapan.
• Found in Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and
Maharashtra.
• Texture - sandy to sandy-loam.
• Deficient in nitrogen, calcium and have very low water bearing capacity.
• These soils can be reclaimed by improving drainage, by applying gypsum
and/or lime and by cultivating salt resistant crops like barseem, dhaincha,
and other leguminous crops.
Peaty and Marshy Soils
• They originate in the area of heavy rainfall where adequate drainage is not
available.
• These are generally submerged during the rainy season and utilised for the
cultivation of rice.
• These soils are rich in organic matter, highly saline, but deficient in
phosphate and potash.
• These soils mainly occur in parts of Kottayam and Alappuzha districts of
Kerala and in the Sundarbans delta.
• They are also found in the deltas of Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna, Kaveri,
and the Ram of Kachchh.
Karewa Soil
• Karewas are the lacustrine (related to lakes) deposits in the Valley of
Kashmir and in Bhadarwah Valley of the Doda District of the Jammu Division.
• These are the flat-topped mounds that border the Kashmir Valley on all
sides.
• They are composed of fine silt, clay, sand, and bouldery-gravel.
• They are characterised with fossils of mammals and at places by peat.
• The karewas have been elevated, dissected and in great measure removed
by subaerial denudation as well as by the Jhelum river giving them the
present position.
• The karewas are mainly devoted to the cultivation of saffron, almond,
walnut, apple and orchards.
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• The karewas, devoted to saffron cultivation are fetching good income to the
growers.
• The karewas of Palmpur, Pulwama, and Kulgam are well known for their
production of superior quality of saffron.
Snowfields
• The area under snow and glaciers is about 4 million hectares.
• The high peaks of the Greater Himalayas, Karakoram, Ladakh, and Zaskar
(Zanskar) are covered by ice and glaciers.
• The soils in these areas is immature, generally without soil erosion.
• It remains frozen and is unsuitable for the cultivation of crops.
PROBLEMS OF INDIAN SOILS
• The forces of nature often destroy the soil cover of an area.
• The process of soil destruction is the result of natural forces or can also
being damaged and destroyed by human activities, such as deforestation, over-
grazing of animals and unscientific use of agricultural land.
• The main problems of the Indian soils are
I. Soil erosion,
II. Declining fertility of soil,
III. Salinity and alkalinity,
IV. Water-logging, and
V. Desertification.
Soil Erosion
• Soil erosion refers to the removal of top soil.
• Soil erosion is a growing menace in many parts of India.
• When the top soil is removed, it is known as sheet erosion, and when the
runoff makes gullies, it is known as gully erosion.
• In India, soil erosion is a universal problem.
• In the areas where rainfall is heavy water is the main agent of soil erosion,
while in the arid and semi-arid areas wind is responsible for soil erosion.
• According to one estimate about 180 million hectare (about 60 per cent of
the total area of the country) is adversely affected by soil erosion.
• The main agents of soil erosion are water, wind, sea-waves, glaciers, and
shifting cultivation. Out of these, water is the most important agent of
erosion.
Water erosion
• It may be classified under three categories:
o surface erosion or the uniform removal of soil from the surface,
o Rill erosion in which the running water makes finger-shaped grooves
in the land,
o gully formations, in which the rills are enlarged, making the land bad
and unsuitable for cultivation.
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o A typical example of gully erosion is provided in the Chambal valley in
Madhya Pradesh. Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh also provide typical
examples of gully erosion.
o Gully erosion is also significant in the Shiwaliks tracts of Punjab,
Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Uttar
Pradesh and along the southern slopes of Himalayas, and the Western
and Eastern Ghats.
Wind Erosion
• Wind erosion is significant in the arid and semi-arid areas of Rajasthan,
Haryana, Punjab, western Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat.
• Wind erodes soil along the coastal plains of Peninsular India. Thousands of
hectares of fertile lands of Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab, and
western Madhya Pradesh have been adversely affected by this process.
• The tidal waters of the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal cause considerable
damage to the soils along the coastal areas. Severe erosion of beaches along
the Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, and Gujarat coasts is the
example of sea-wave erosion.
• The worst affected areas of soil erosion include:
I. Chambal and Yamuna rivers
II. the southern slopes of Shiwaliks, Lesser and Greater Himalayas,
III. the Western and Eastern Ghats,
IV. the Chotanagpur Plateau, and
V. the arid and semi-arid areas of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana, and
Punjab.
Declining Soil Fertility
• Being utilised for centuries, and multiple cropping without fallowing the
agricultural land, the natural fertility of soil is depleting fast.
• The farmers use more inputs each subsequent year to get the return to the
level of the previous year. This testifies to the diminishing fertility of land.
• In fact, the unscientific rotation of crops (wheat and rice) over several
decades has depleted the soil fertility in the Great Plains of India
substantially. The cultivation of leguminous crops after a soil exhaustive
crop can improve the soil fertility affected regions.
Water-Logging
• An area is said to be water logged when the water table rises to the extent
that soil pores in the root zone of a crop become saturated, resulting in the
restriction of normal circulation of the air, decline in the level of oxygen, and
an increase in the level of carbon dioxide.
• Apart from soil erosion, there are many ill-drained, low lying areas in India
where the soil has been damaged by water-logging.
• The main causes of waterlogging are: (i) seepage of water from canals, (ii)
faulty on farm water management, (iii) lack of drainage, (iv) interception of
natural drainage, (v) indiscriminate cultivation in bed of drainage channel,
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and (vi) inundation of marine delta cycles, and (vii) inundation in coastal
areas during cyclonic storms.
Saline and Alkaline Soils
• Soil salinity and alkalinity are found in the relatively less rainfall recording
areas where the rate of evaporation is generally higher than the rate of
precipitation.
• They also develop in the Khadar lands and the canal irrigated areas.
• Under such conditions, the ground water level rises and saline and alkaline
efflorescence consisting of salts of sodium, calcium, and manganese appear
on the surface as a layer of white salt through capillary action.
• According to one estimate, about 80 lakh hectares (2.4% of the country's
reporting area) has been adversely affected by saline and alkaline
formations.
Salt Flats
• The soils seriously damaged by the excess of calcium chlorides are found in
the Rann of Kachchh.
• These soils are saline, marshy and infested with tall grasses, bushes and
scrubs. They are almost useless from agricultural point of view.
• A sound strategy needs to be developed to bring the salt flats under
agriculture or pastures.
Consequences of Soil Erosion:
• Loss of fertile top soil from the top layer leading to gradual loss of soil-
fertility and agricultural productivity.
• Loss of important nutrients from soil through leaching and water-logging.
• Lowering of the underground water-table and decrease in soil moisture.
• Drying of vegetation and extension of arid lands.
• Increase in the frequency of droughts and floods.
• Silting of rivers and canal beds.
• Recurrence of landslides.
• Adverse effect on economy which retards cultural development.
• Increase in crimes and anti-social activities through the formation of natural
hideouts for criminals and dacoits.
• Burden on the exchequer to reclaim the bad lands.
There is no uniform strategy to reclaim all the wasteland and degraded soils of
different types. Some strategies that might help in the reclamation of wasteland are
given below:
• All the degraded forest lands should be planted with trees. Marginal lands
which are not suitable for agriculture should be brought under social forestry
and agro-forestry.
• Degraded soils and degraded lands can be reclaimed with the help of
watershed programmes.
• Rainwater harvesting and conservation should be the focus of development
planning. A series of small projects of water harvesting in the watershed
area should be undertaken to maximise benefits from watershed projects.
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• Soil conservation practices should be adopted which have been briefly
described in the following pages.
SOIL CONSERVATION
• Looking at the importance of soil resources for a country of over a billion people,
a judicious utilization and conservation of soil is of paramount importance.
• The farmers in the drier parts of Gujarat, Haryana, Rajasthan, and western
Madhya Pradesh have successfully protected their fields from soil erosion by
planting rows of trees to reduce the velocity of winds which continually erode
soil cover.
• Soil conservation includes reduction in soil erosion, afforestation, rational
utilisation of soils and ways to enhance their sustainability. Some of the
important steps which can go a long way in the conservation of soils are as
under:
Afforestation: -
1. Tree plantation helps in the reduction of soil erosion. Trees reduce the
intensity of runoff and increase the seepage of water to the underground
water-table.
2. Social forestry can be developed along the banks of rivers, canals, lakes,
roads, and railway tracks.
Restriction on the Felling of Trees: -
1. Apart from afforestation, it is equally important to check the indiscriminate
felling of trees.
2. People's awareness that resulted in the launch of the Chipko Movement can
help in achieving this objective.
Contour Ploughing and Strip Cultivation
1. In the hilly and mountainous areas, ploughing should be done according to
the contours and not in an up-down direction of slope.
2. The contour ploughing is an effective way of checking soil erosion.
3. Small strips can be developed on gentle slopes for sowing crops which help
in overcoming the menace of soil erosion.
Control of Floods
1. In India, the problem of soil erosion is closely associated with floods. The
floods generally occur during the rainy season. Efforts, therefore, need to
be made for the storage of flood water or the diversion of additional rain-
water.
2. The inter-connecting of rivers as in the Garland Canal Project or the Ganga-
Kaveri Link Canal Project can be of immense help in this direction.
Reclamation of Ravine and Badlands
1. Reclamation of gullies and ravines is also necessary to overcome the
problem of soil erosion.
2. Several such schemes involving plugging of gully mouths, construction of
bunds across the gullies, levelling of gullies, afforestation, restriction on
grazing are under implementation in the Chambal ravines of Madhya
Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan.
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Restriction on Shifting Cultivation
1. In the states of north-east India and Western and Eastern Ghats, shifting
cultivation (slash and burn) is one of the main causes of soil erosion.
2. The shifting cultivators need to be persuaded to stop the practice of shifting
cultivation and should be trained and motivated to adopt terraced fanning.
3. A scheme to control shifting cultivation has been launched in the seven
states of north-east India.
4. This is a beneficiary oriented programme which aims at the rehabilitation
families of PI) the Jhumias (shifting cultivators).
5. There is a need to extend this programme to other states of the tt) country
and gradually replace this agricultural system by sedentary farming.
Restoration of Long Fallow
1. There are 96 lakh hectares 01 fallow land. The old fallow land is mainly
found in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra,
Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh. This old
fallow land can be brought under cultivation, grazing and orchards which
shall be helpful in the reduction of soil erosion.
Reclamation of Saline and Alkaline (usar) Soil
1. The saline and alkaline affected area in the country is more than 80 lakh
hectares. The state-wise distribution in the major states of India.
2. This land needs reclamation. Application of cow-dung and gypsum are quite
helpful in the reclamation of salt affected soils.
Other Measures of Soil Conservation
1. Construction of small dams across the tributaries of rivers in their upper
reaches to control floods and soil erosion.
2. Lining of canals to stop seepage of water which leads to waterlogging.
3. Solving the problem of waterlogging by improving the surface and vertical
drainage.
4. Formation of windbreak and shelter belts in arid and semi-arid regions.
5. Increasing use of organic and compost manure.
6. Popularizing the application of cow dung and green manure.
7. Conversion of human waste and city garbage into manures.
8. Scientific rotation of crops.
9. Filling up gullies and forming terraces along the slopes.
10. Levelling of ravines and planting of trees and grasses in the slopes.
11. Check on shifting cultivation and conversion of jhum lands into sedentary
agriculture.
12. Promotion of afforestation in the degraded soils.
13. Adopting the techniques of sustainable agriculture.
14. To educate public about the adverse effects of soil erosion through seminars,
conferences, and workshops in the regions of degraded soils.
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