Soil Suitability for Crop Productivity

Contents: Preface. 1. Introduction. 2. Concept and approaches of agro ecological regions. 3. Arid and semi arid regions. 4. Suitability assessment. 5. Soil site characteristics for crop specific FAO land suitability evaluation. 6. Suitability criteria and its evaluation. 7. Cereals. 8. Pulses. 9. Oilseeds. 10. Fibrecrop. 11. Commercial crops. 12. Spices and condiments. References. Subject index.

Issues concerning land use have gained importance in recent times as increasing human and livestock population and diversified human demands highlight the competition for the finite land resources of the country. India has 2.3% of the worlds land resource base to feed 17% of the world population and 11% of the world livestock. It is well known that the adaptability of crops in one or the other area is the interaction between edaphic soil properties and existing climatic features.

It is also well known that each plant species requires specific soil site conditions for its optimum growth. Although the SAUs and research institutes have generated voluminous data on crop production through experimentation, it has not been correlated adequately to work out soil site suitability models for optimizing agricultural land use. An attempt has been made to measure the important role of soil and climate in getting production potential of major crops.

The book is intended for students, research workers and planners to acquaint them with the problems confronted in the successful crop production in various types of soil/climatic conditions.