Soils of Madhya Pradesh-II: land use capability, cropping systems and soil degradation

• Published in: Journal of the Indian Society of Soil Science Vol. 47; no. 1
• Main Authors: Tamgadge, D.B, Gaikwad, S.T, Gajbhiye, K.S.(National bureau of Soil Survey and Land use Planning, Nagpur (India))
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.03.1999
• Subjects: APTITUDE DES TERRES; CLASIFICACION DE SUELOS; CLASSIFICATION DES SOLS; DETERIORATION DU SOL; DETERIORO DEL SUELO; LAND SUITABILITY; LAND USE; MADHYA PRADESH; RECURSOS DEL SUELO; RESSOURCE EN SOL; SOIL CLASSIFICATION; SOIL DETERIORATION; SOIL RESOURCES; UTILISATION DES TERRES; UTILIZACION DE LA TIERRA; VOCACION DE LA TIERRA
• ISSN: 0019-638X

Results of interpretation of soil data for various applied purposes and its bearing on crop yield efficiency and crop production systems are presented. It is seen that consistent with soil and associated features constraint, 14.73% and 36.83% of the area of the state has soils dominated by landuse capability classes II and III, there being no class I lands. Further lands with slight to moderate limitation for irrigation constitute 43.92%. Lands highly to moderately suitable for wheat, gram and cotton constitute roughly 12 and 5% each. However, suitability for rice and soybean is higher. Considerable variation is seen across the physiographic sub-regions in yield efficiency of major crops. Rice-wheat, soybean-sorghym, soybean-rice and rice-sorghum are the most extensive production systems. Whereas most of these systems are specific in their distribution, few are spread over several soil-physiographic sub-regions. Water erosion is a serious problem and its moderate, severe and etreme degrees affect 36.5, 15.0 and 2.7% of the state.