5 research outputs found
Coconut-growing soils of Kerala: 2. Assessment of fertility and soil related constraints to coconut production
Growth, productivity and health of coconut plantations in humid tropics are influenced by soil qualities. Fertility of coconut-growing soils of Kerala was assessed by analysing samples drawn from the distinct agro-ecological regions of the state: Central and Eastern Palakkad, Northern Kerala, Central Kerala and Southern Kerala, Onattukara sandy plain and coastal sandy plain. The strongly acid soils of Northern and Central Kerala and Onattukara sandy plain are unfavorable for plant nutrient availability and microbial processes. Surface and sub-soils of Central Kerala and sandy plains have low levels of organic carbon. Available phosphorus was high in soils of Southern Kerala and Onattukara sandy plain. Plant available potassium was not adequate in these coconut-growing soils. The nutrient levels in soils of Central Kerala and sandy plain were extremely low. The same pattern was true for secondary nutrients calcium and magnesium. Soils of all regions have adequate levels of available sulphur, iron and manganese. Copper and zinc deficiency was recorded for laterite soils of central region and sandy soils of Onattukara and coastal plain. Plant available boron was deficient in all regions except for the soils of Southern Kerala. Molybdenum levels were marginal in coconut growing soils, except for the soils of Palakkad. Overhead climate and soil moisture availability does not constrain the palm in the state except for Eastern Palakkad where irrigation during dry period is an absolute necessity. The extensive areas of midland laterites and Onattukara sandy plain with strong acid reaction and aluminium in soil solution severely constrain coconut. The acid soils also suffer from deficiencies of potassium, calcium, magnesium, copper, zinc and boron. These soil related constraints affect coconut production significantly and alleviation of the same through liming and adequate application of deficient nutrients can ensure satisfactory yields from the palm
Not Available
Not AvailableThe sustenance of food and nutritional security are
the major challenges of the 21st century. The domestic
food production needs to increase per annum at the
rate of 2% for cereals and 0.6% for oilseeds and pulses
to meet the demand by 2030. The Indo-Gangetic Plains
(IGP) and the black soil regions (BSR) are the two major
food production zones of the country. Since irrigation
potential is limited and expansion of irrigated area
is tardy, rainfed agriculture holds promise to satisfy
future food needs. Frontline demonstrations of these
two regions have shown that there is a large gap at the
farmers’ and achievable levels of yields. This gap can be
filled by adopting scientific approach of managing the
natural resources. There is tremendous pressure of biotic
and abiotic stresses hindering the crop production
and that warrants for a systematic appraisal of natural
resources. The National Bureau of Soil Survey and
Land Use Planning (NBSS&LUP) under the Indian
Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) divided the
country into 60 agro-ecological sub-regions (AESRs) in
1994 by superimposing maps on natural resources like
soils, climate and length of growing period (LGP) for
crops and other associated parameters. With the
passage of nearly two decades and the advent of modern
facilities of database management and improved knowledge
base on natural resources, a need was felt to revise
the existing AESR map to reach near the ground reality
of crop performance. The new database stored in soil
and terrain digital database (SOTER) has helped
in modifying the AESR delineations of the BSR
(76.4 m ha) and the IGP (52.01 m ha). The estimated
available water content, saturated hydraulic conductivity
and use of pedo-transfer functions in assessing the
drainage conditions and soil quality have helped in
computing with improved precision the LGP, and revise
the earlier AESRs in BSR and IGP areas. This innovative
exercise will be useful for the future AESR-based
agricultural land use planning.Not Availabl
Not Available
Not AvailableLand evaluation is carried out to assess the suitability
of land for a specific use. Land evaluation procedures
focus increasingly on the use of quantitative procedures
to enhance the qualitative interpretation of land
resource surveys. Conventional Boolean retrieval of soil
survey data and logical models for assessing land suitability,
treat both spatial units and attribute value
ranges as exactly specifiable quantities. They ignore the
continuous nature of soil and landscape variation and
uncertainties in measurement, which may result in the
failure to correctly classify sites that just fail to match
strictly defined requirements. The objective of this article
is to apply fuzzy model to land suitability evaluation
for major crops in the 15 benchmark sites of the Indo-
Gangetic Plains (IGP) and 17 benchmark sites of the
black soil regions (BSR). Minimum datasets of land
characteristics considered relevant to rice and wheat in
the IGP and cotton and soybean in the BSR were identified
to enhance pragmatic value of land evaluation.
The use of fuzzy model is intuitive, robust and helpful
for land suitability evaluation and classification, especially
in applications in which subtle differences in land
characteristics are of a major interest, such as development
of threshold values of land characteristics.Not Availabl
Not Available
Not AvailableCurrent status of land/soil resources of the Indo-
Gangetic Plains (IGP) is analysed to highlight the issues
that need to be tackled in near future for sustained
agricultural productivity. There are intraregional
variations in soil properties, cropping systems;
status of land usage, groundwater utilization
and irrigation development which vary across the subregions
besides demographies. Framework for land
use policy is suggested that includes acquisition of
farm-level data, detailing capability of each unit to
support a chosen land use, assess infrastructural support
required to meet the projected challenges and
finally develop skilled manpower to effectively monitor
the dynamics of land use changes.Not Availabl
Not Available
Not AvailableUnderstanding the physical quality of soil that influences
its hydraulic behaviour helps in formulating
appropriate water management strategies for sustainable
crop production. Saturated hydraulic conductivity
(Ks) is a key factor governing the hydraulic properties of
soils. Ks can be estimated through various techniques. In
the present article we have developed and validated the
regression models to predict Ks of the soils of the Indo-
Gangetic Plains (IGP) and the black soil regions (BSR)
under different bioclimatic systems. While particle size
distribution was found to be a key factor to predict Ks
of the BSR soils, organic carbon was found useful for
the IGP soils. Moreover, the models for Ks of both
soils were strengthened by putting in CaCO3 and
exchangeable sodium percentage content. It seems
there is ample scope to study the interaction process
for revising Ks to desired levels through management
practices in these two important food-growing zones.
An index of soil physical quality, derived from the
inflection points of the soil moisture characteristic
curves could well explain the impact of management
practices on soil physical quality.Not Availabl