Soils

Soils of India :-

Soil-types in India can be classified into three groups. The first group comprises of the alluvial, black and red soils, which are basically fertile and are arable and cultivatable.

The second group consists of the peaty and marshy, the saline and alkaline soils which are potentially arable.

The third group is the laterite and forest and hill soils, which are not at all suitable for cultivation;

The main alluvial area is found in the Indo-Gangetic plain and the Peninsular regions. The main crops are rice, sugarcane and wheat. Black soil is found in the northwestern regions and in the Deccan lava areas and Tamilnadu.

Black soil is especially suited for cotton. Red soil is particularly rich in Potash and is found in northern and central India. The peaty and marshy soils are found in the Bengal deltas, Saline and alkaline soils in the semi-arid regions of Bihar, U.P, Gujarat, Punjab and Rajasthan. Desert soils are found in the minimum rain receiving areas of Gujarat, Punjab and Rajasthan. Laterite soil is common in the low hills of Andhra, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Assam.

There are two crop seasons: Kharif, Rabi. The major Kharif crops are rice, jowar, maize,. cotton, sugarcane, sesame and groundnut. The Rabi crops are wheat, jowar, barley, gram, rapeseed and mustard and the summer crops are rice, maize, groundnut and some cash crops.

Indian soils are generally divided into four broad types. These sail types are: 1) alluvial soils; 2) regur soils; 3) red soils and 4) laterite soils.

Alluvial Soils: This is the most important and widespread category. It covers 40% of the land area. In fact the entire Northern Plains are made up of these soils. They have been brought down and deposited by three great Himalayan rivers- Sutlej, Ganga and Brahmaputra- and their tributaries. Through a narrow corridor in Rajasthan they extend into the plains of Gujarat. They are common in eastern coastal plains and in the deltas of Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna and Kaveri.

Regur Soils : These soils are black in colour and are also known as black soils. Since, they are ideal for growing cotton, they are· also called..cotton soils, in addition to their normal nomenclature of regur soils. These soils are most typical of the Deccan trap (Basalt) region spread over north-west Deccan plateau and are made up of lava flows. They cover the plateaus of Mahrashtra, Saurashtra, Malwa and southern tvladhya Pradesh and extends eastwards in the south along the Godavari and Krishna Valleys.

Red Soils : These soils are developed on old crystalline rocks under moderate to heavy rainfall conditions. They are deficient ,In phosphoric acid, organic matter and nitrogenous material. Red soils cover the eastern part of the peninsular region comprising Chhotanagpur plateau, Orissa, eastern Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, the Nilgiris and Tamil Nadu plateau. Tey extended northwards in the west along the Konkun coast of Maharashtra.

Laterite Soils : The laterite soils is the result of intense leaching owing to heavy tropical rains. They are found along the edge of plateau in the east covering small parts of Tamil Nadu, and Orissa and a small part of Chhotanagpur in the north and Meghalaya in the north-east.