ABSTRACT

78Detailed information on soils is necessary for agricultural planning and management. Keeping this in view the swell-shrink soils of the Ramagarh village of Purna valley in Amravati district, Maharashtra in semi-arid region of Central India were studied for their morphological, physical and chemical characteristics. Soils in the Ramagarh village are very deep, dark grayish brown to very dark grayish brown in color, clay in texture and exhibits medium, moderate, sub angular blocky structure in the surface layers and the subsoil horizons had medium, weak to strong angular blocky structure. Soils of the study area are alkaline in reaction, calcareous in nature and had low to medium organic carbon content. In general the pH, CaCO3 and exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP) increase with depth in all the soils. Because of high smectitic clay content and ESP down the profile, these soils have impeded drainage and show ponding of water in the rainy season. The soils of the uplands are classified as Sodic Haplusterts and low land soils belong to Typic Haplusterts category at sub group level. The study suggests that the micro topographic differences can modify the important properties of soils in a village with Ustic soil moisture regime. The study indicates that these soils need to be classified based on measurable properties like hydraulic conductivity and the level of ESP used for categorizing sodic black soils in semi-arid Indian continent should be brought down.