Soils of Karnataka

Booklet No. 361 Soil Science: SSS-6

Contents Preface I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. X. XI. Preface Agriculture, the backbone of our country is mainly dependent on man's management of soil. Soil is important in the sense that without it agriculture is not possible. In order to maintain its fertility and to improve the crop productivity, it is necessary to study a particular area geographically and physically. In this booklet, taking Karnataka State as a whole, a general description of the distribution of soils and their characteristics is given. Dr. K. T. Chandy, Agricultural & Environmental Education I. Geographical Situation Kamataka has a total geographical area of 19.17 m.ha and lies between 74 o -7830' east longitude and 1058- 1830'north latitude in the peninsular India. The state is bounded by Arabian sea in the west, Kerala and Tamil Nadu in the south, Andhra Pradesh in the east and Maharashtra in the north. II. Land Utilization Pattern A summary of the land utilization pattern is given in table 1. Table 1: Land utilization pattern in Karnataka Sl.No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Land use Total geographic area Reporting area for land utilization statistics Forest Not available for cultivation Other uncultivated land excluding fallow land Fallow land Net are sown Area sown more than once (Area in m.ha) 19.17 19.05 3.03 1.92 2.13 1.56 10.40 0.84 Geographical Situation Land Utilization Pattern Physiography Climate Vegetation Soils Problem Soils Irrigation and Cropping Pattern Soil Fertility Status Management of Problem Soils Priorities for Future

9 III. Physiography

Total cropped area

11.24

The state exhibits a variation in respect of its surface geographical features. Generally it has a rolling surface on gentle slopes. As one transverses from the Arabian sea to the east we can see four distinct physiographical areas: a narrow coastal strip, the ghats, Malnad, the northern maidan and the northern dry maidan. The highest elevation is on the south- west of hilly zone and the lowest in the north eastern parts such as in the valleys of Thungabhadra and Hagari rivers, 1. The coastal zone The coastal zone is a narrow strip of about 40-75 km width extending from the Arabian sea to the Western Ghats in the hilly zone. The land features are characterised by a narrow coastal plain preceding an undulating landscape having about 50-70 km width with high platforms and hillocks which are cut across by numerous steep sided, flat bottomed valleys of about 1.0-1.5 kms in breadth. To the interior, at the ghat-base, are the hillocks with about 150300 meters of elevation, thick evergreen forests, steep hill slopes and highly dissected landscape. There are numerous rivers which originate from the ghat and flow towards the west before joining the Arabian sea. 2. The Malnad area This comes partly under hilly zone has thick forest area lying immediate to the east of the Western Ghats and extend in the north west to south-south east direction of the State. The landscape is highly dissected, steep sided and conical shaped hills thickly covered with evergreen forests are the characteristics of hilly zone. The rivers which originate from the Ghats dissect through the hilly zone. 3. The northern maidan They are characterized by a slightly undulating land- scape with rather broad based valley. The elevation of maidan land ranges from 400 to 700 meters.The southern maidan is a highly rolling plateau marked by bare, bolder crowned granitic hills having elevation ranging from 1000 to 1900 meters. 4. The northern dry maidan The northern dry zones are traversed by big perennial rivers like Krishna, Thungabhadra, Malaprabha and Bheema in the north and Cauvery in the southern dry zone with their tributaries which form the major potential sources of irrigation. IV. Climate Due to its topographic diversity, Karnataka shows striking differences in climate in different regions. The state receives rains from south west monsoon during June to October and North east monsoon during October to January. During the period between February to May, the state experiences dry summer spells. Karnataka has been divided into ten agro climatic zones (Table 2) based on annual rainfall of the state. The reader is requested to differentiate between physiographic md agro-climatic zones. Table 2: Agro-climatic zones of Karnataka Sl.no Zone name District Annual Rainfall (mm)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

North-eastern Transition zone North eastern dry zone Northern dry zone

Entire Bidar, Gulbarga

Partly Mostly during June to September 800-900 mm Mostly during June to September 630-800 mm Mostly during sept. to October 465-640 mm Mostly from May to June 455-717 mm 679 to 889 mm During monsoon 600 to 900 mm season

10

Parts of Gulbarga and Raichur Most parts of Bijapur, Bellary, parts of Raichur, Dharwad & Belgaum Central dry Entire Chitra durga , Parts zone of Tumkur Eastern dry Whole of Bangalore and zone Kolar Southern Whole of Mandhya and Transition parts of Mysore, Tumkur zone & Hassan Southern Parts of Hassan Shimoga, Transition Mysore & Chickmagalore zone Northern Parts of Dharwad and Transition Belgaum zone Hill zone The Malnad or Hilly areas of Uttar Kannada, Belgaum, Shimoga, Dharwad, Kodagu & Hassan Coastal zone Entire Dakshina Kannada and Uttara Kannada

700 to 1050 mm during monsoon season 619 to 1303 mm spread over from May to October 1300 to 3800 mm with a characteristics of torrential rains 3000 to 4700 mm

The coastal regions has mean monthly temperature of 25-30oCwith a small daily deviation of about 3 centigrade. In the Malnad (zone 9), the temperature rhythms are similar to those in the coastal regions. However, the climate is relatively cooler because of higher altitude. The mean monthly temperature in the hill zone ranges from 18 to 24C. Zones 1, 2 and of northern maidan are characterized by hot summers and warm winters with sparse and variable rainfall. This region is the warmest in the state. The mean monthly temperature ranges from 22 to 25C in January and 33-38C in May-June. The southern maidans mainly consists of a region of cool and equitable temperature. V. Vegetation Vegetation of different areas in the state varies markadly. The thick, evergreen, broadleaf forest occur in Malanad area. They seem to be the result of high rainfall and relatively cool climatic conditions. In the northern dry region the type of vegetation is mainly the grasses, thorny xerophytic shrubs, and trees like Acacia sp., Azadirchta indica and Ficus benghalensis. In the southern region in addition to grasses and shrubs a few forest trees are also observed. The coastal areas have most of its land under cultivation but in small areas one can observe cashewnut, thorny plants, shrubs and grasses. The whole north-eastern parts of the state has steppe type of vegetation. Vegetation gradually changes from north to south through short grass, tall grass, forest and finally to rain forest, covering Dakshina Kannada, Kodagu and Chickmagalur districts.

VI. Soils There are mainly nine types of soils in Kamataka. A brief description of all these nine soil groups identified is given here. Regarding location of these soil type refer the soil map (Fig.1) of the state.

A. Black soils in general These are also called the black cotton soils. They occupy large parts of northern districts of state viz. Belgaum, Dharwad, Raichur, Bijapur, Gulbarga, Bellary and Chitradurga. The main features of these soils are the following. 1. They belong to north eastern dry and northern dry agro climatic zones. 2. They are derived from basalt, though some are formed from limestones, shales, alluvium and schists. 3. These soils show a characteristic gilgae, slicken sides and swelling under various moisture regimes. 4. Generally they are fine in texture with high amount of clay and typically dark in colour. 5. Their nature is calcarious, low in organic matter arid high in cation exchange capacity with high base saturation. 6. These soils have high plasticity, stickiness and tendency to swell and shrink when subjected to wetting and drying cycles. 7. They have high water holding capacity with low bulk density. 8. They have very low infiltration rate and hydraulic conductivity 9. They commonly show the excess accumulation of soluble salts in the surface horizon. 10. They are shallow (less than 1 m) in uplands and medium to deep in plains and valleys. 11. Based on the depth, (degree of erosion) they have been classified into shallow, medium and deep soils.

B. Shallow black soils These have usually a depth less the one meter and are severely eroded in some parts of the state to such an extent that lime layer is exposed to the surface and hence they are often termed as limey soils. These occur only in patches on the ridges. The area occupied by the shallow black soils very small compared to medium and deep black soils. C. Medium black soils Originally called the trap soils, as they are derived from the Deccan trap and are found in Belgaum, Bijapur, Gulbarga and Raichur districts (zones 2, 3 & 4). The soil are lighter colour on highlands and darker in valleys. The texture is loam to clay. These are highly retentive, have high base saturation, slightly alkaline in reaction and calcarious. These are dominated by montmorillonite and other 2:1 lattice type clay minerals. These are fertile and productive when moisture is not a limiting factor. They are quite young, immature, and basic constituents are not removed. They are formed under arid climate such as relatively high temperature, low rainfall conditions and grassy vegetation. These soils exhibit process of alternate shrinking and swelling giving rise to opening and cl6sing of cracks during summer and rainy seasons, respectively. D. Deep black soils These soils are characterized by great depth, dark colour and high clay content. They occupy large areas of Raichur, parts of Belgaum, Bijapur etc (zones 2, 3 & 4). They are derived from a wide variety of parent materials. These soils exhibit evidence of appreciable vertical mixing within profiles caused by shrinkage and swellings. The soils show slow but steady state of churning of soil materials within the soil profiles, inhibiting horizon differentiation. These deep black soils are often formed from transported parent materials, occurring in the basins of major rivers such as Krishna, Malaprabha, Ghataprabha, Bheema in the northern parts of the state. These soils have good aggregating ability in the presence of appreciable amount of organic matter. E. Red soils in general They are quite extensive in the state and occur at medium to high elevations and are found over a wide variety of climatic patterns including semi arid conditions. Red soils have the following characteristics. 1. These soils have been derived from rocks like granite, gneiss, sand stone, basalt and shale. 2. They have a characteristic movement of clay from surface to sub surface, transforming into a well developed, compact illuvial or a diagnostic argillic horizon which hampers downward movement of water. 3. They have richer moisture content in sub-surface than in surface but higher moisture capacity of lower horizons is of limited use as it is compact and hard to be penetrated by plant roots to exploit sub soil moisture and nutrients. 4. They do not show any regular variation in depth and colour in Kolar, Bangalore, Tumkar, Mandya and Mysore districts (zones 5,6&7) due to undulated topography of these regions. 5. The soils are coarse textured varying from sand to sandy clay. These soils are neutral to acidic in reaction, low base saturation, low to medium in available nitrogen, low in available phosphorus and medium to high in available potassium. F. Red loam soils The soils of some parts of Shimoga, Hassan, Chickmagalur districts and those occurring in valleys and Ghats are texturally loams or silty loams. These are generally deep to very deep

and clay content increase down the profile. The soils are subjected to intense leaching. They are fairly well drained in the uplands and water logged in low lying areas. G. Mixed red and black soils They are found in association with each other in the districts of Belgaum, Bijapur, Dhanbad, Raichur, Bellary and Chitradurga (zones2,3&4). Mixed red and black soils have the following characteristics. i. On uplands coarse textured red soils with high permeability occur where as deep, clayey, poorly drained black soils occur in the low lands and valleys. 2. Topography and parent material are the major soil forming factors under the influence of which mostly these mixed red and black soils-are formed. 3. They are derived from either gneisses or schists rocks or sedimentary rock formations. They can be classified under both vertisols and iliisols. H. Laterite soils They are mainly predominant in Malanad and coastal areas of Uttara and Dakshina Kannada and parts of Belgaum, Shimoga, Chickmagalur, Hassan and Kodagu districts. Laterite soils have the following characteristics. 1. They include high level in situ laterite soils as well as low level transported soils. 2. In Malnad and coastal areas laterite soils are formed either from the rocks like Dharwad schist or peninsular gneiss under high temperature and high rainfall conditions. 3. These have local variations largely due to relief. 4. They are also often termed as ferrites or ferruginous soils as a consequence of high iron content in their profile. 5. They have a horizon sandy clay loam in texture and B horizon gravelly clay loam to clay loam. 6. They are acidic and ferrugenous in nature and cation exchange capacity (CEC) varies from 315 m eq/100 gm of soil. 7. They are high in organic matter and respond well to liming, manuring and other management practices. 8. These soils suffer from problems like excessive gravelly texture, crust formation and susceptibility to erosion due to natural high slopes. I. Coastal alluvials These are situated between the Western Ghats and the Arabian sea. Coastal alluvial soils are found in the coastal region and have the following characteristics. 1. These soils are coarse textured sands and are often modified by the tidal action of sea and by wind blown sand. 2. They are generally low in organic matter. 3. They have developed in humid environment and are extremely acidic at higher elevation while alkaline in low lying areas. The coastal alkaline soils are low in cation exchange capacity (CEC) and base saturation and respond well to the management practices and fertilization. 4. They are moderately well drained to poorly drained which is often influenced by relief and inundation. 5. They form a narrow strip extending throughout the length of the sea cost in Uttar and Dakshina Kannada districts.

J. Dark brown clay soils They occur in small areas of Kodagu and western parts of Mysore districts. Dark brown clayey soils have the following characteristics. 1. They are formed from under cool, forested, humit condition from granitic gnesis 2. They are of clay type and rich in organic matter. 3. These soils capacity have moderately high cation exhange capacity (CEC) and high base saturation.(CE 4. In some parts, they have fragipan, which limits the movement and storage of watyer and restricts root developments. 5. These soils have formed on gentle slopes and gently undulating plains and terraces 6. These soils are moderate in water holding capacity. 7. They have a low supply of available phosphorus. K. Forest soils The soils are fine textured consisting of well decomposed humus and mineral. Mostly strongly acidic in reaction and it has high base exchange capacity due to high organic matter content. The soils are mostly suitable to grow forest trees. They are found in the districts of Coorg, Dakshina Kannada, Chickmagalur, Shimoga in patches. VII. Problem Soils Acidity, salinity, alkalinity, soil erosion and water logging are the main problems of the soils. 1. Acidic soils The survey carried out by the department of agriculture, Govt. of Karnataka, reveals that acidity has plagued about 3.0 lakh hectares of land in the state. Entire soils of agro-climatic zone 9 and 10 are acidic and their pH ranges from 3,5 to 6.5. 2. Saline and alkali soils About 2.0 lakh hectares area of the state is reported to be under the grip of salinity and alkalinity. The expansion of irrigation system has also added to the problem. This type of soil is mostly observed in arid and semi arid regions. Large areas of agro climatic zones of 2 and 3 are saline-sodic and calcarious. These soils are locally known as kari soils. Large areas have either become saline or alkali or saline- alkali in all the major project areas such as Malaprabha, Ghataprabha and Thungabhadra due to improper and unscientific irrigation practices. The problem of salinity and alkalinity is also common on the banks of the tributary of river Don (locally called) in Bijapur district The low lying areas of Bhadra, Shimoga district, Vanivilas sagar project, Chitradurga districts and Vishweshvaraiah canal area of Mandhya district have become saline and alkaline due to improper water management and increased water table induced by the seepage water from channels. 3. Soil erosion The black soils of northern parts of the state are dominated by montmorillonite clay mineral. Porosity of soil (cross-sectional area of pore spaces of soil is reduced due to swelling of these, clays and the situation is still aggravated in presence of high sodium or low salt concentration. This causes dispersion and movement of these fine particles into the soil pores which results in low infiltration rate. Further, the torrential rains or even irrigation water may

wash off the surface soil leading to the formation of small to deep gullies. Due to rainfall of high intensity, severe erosion of top soil is resulted. 4. Water logging About 35,966 ha of land has been reported to have gone out of cultivation due to water logging. VIII. Irrigation and Cropping Pattern About 1.8 m ha area of the state is under irrigation which constitutes about 16 percent of the gross cropped area. The main crop under irrigated conditions is rice which shares about 40 per cent of the irrigated area (table 3). Maize, sugarcane, groundnut etc. are other crops grown in irrigated areas. Table 3: Irrigated area under different important crops in Kamataka Sl.No 1 2 3 4 5 Crops Rice Sugarcane Maize Groundnut Others Total Area (thousand ha) 730 177 129 113 652 1801

The major crops grown indifferent agro climatic zones, regions, districts and soils have been given in table 4. Zone 1&2 3 4,5&6 Districts Soils Major crops Bidar, Gulbarga & parts Red, black and Sorghum, Red Gram, of Raichur laterites Groundnut, Safflower, Rice, Cotton, Sugarcane & chillies Bijapur, Bellary, parts Black and red Sorghum, Pearl millet, of Raichur, Dharwad soils Groundnut, Bengal gram, and Belgaum Cotton, Wheat, Sunflower Chitradurga, Tumkur, Red, red sandy Finger millet, Pulses, Rice, Mandhya, Bangalore, laterite and Sugarcane, Cotton & Millets Kolar, parts of Hassan, black soils Mysore and Chickmagalur Parts of Belgaum, -doSorghum, Finger millet, Rice, Dharwad, Shimoga, Oilseeds, Pulses, Cotton, and Hassan, Mysore Tobacco, Millets and Aromatic plants Coorg, parts of Red, red sandy Rice, Plantation and Horticultural Hassan, Chickmagalur, and laterites Crops Uttara Kannada and Dharwad Dakshina Kannada and Red, alluvial & Rice, Pulses, Groundnut, parts of Uttara laterite soils Plantation and Horticultural Kannada crops

7 &8

10

IX. Soil Fertility Status The soil fertility status can be considered by organic matter, available phosphorus, available potash and other available nutrients. 1. Organic matter Organic carbon as an index of available nitrogen, has revealed that the soils of zones 2, 3 and 6 and most of the parts of zones 4 and 5 are low in nitrogen covering most of the districts of the state; medium in some parts of zones 3, 4, 5 and 6 which include parts of Bijapur, Dharwad, Raichur, Belgaum, Bellary, Chitradurga, Tumkur, Bangalore, Kolar and Mysore districts and high in zones 9 and also in some parts of zone 8. In general, it is observed that rainfall has a positive bearing on the organic matter status and is found that the organic carbon content in soils is generally high in areas of high rainfall like zone 9 and 10 and low where magnitude of rainfall received is relatively low. 2. Available phosphorus Most soils of the state irrespective of zonal diversities are low (less than 22 kg P 2O5/ ha) in respect of available phosphorus content. Zone 3, 4, 5, 6 and 10 fall under medium group (22-55 kg P2O5/ha). Only in some small pockets of the state such as some parts of the Mysore and Kolar districts (of zone 6) are relatively high (more than 55 kg P2O5/ha) in available phosphorus. As the soils of the state are generally low in available P2O5 the application of phosphorus fertilizer is very crucial to boost up the crop yield. 3. Available potash In respect of potassium status the soils of the state are high in available potassium. The soils which show higher potassium include the soils of all the zones, except some part of zones 7, 9 and 10 which are medium in available potassium. Only some soils of coastal regions with high rainfall and. intense leaching (zone 10) are low in respect of available potassium. Soils having low to medium potassium content need application of fertilizer to get higher yields. 4. Secondary and micronutrients Soils of southern plain, Malnad coastal and hilly areas are generally deficient in calcium and magnesium. Sulphur may be deficient in soils of coastal districts. There is a fairly Widespread deficiency of zinc, in the soils of Kamataka. Iron availability is limited mostly in calcarious black soils. Black calcarious soils of zones 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 are found deficient in available zinc, copper, iron, manganese and boron. In the acid soils of coastal and Malnad districts, iron toxicity is a problem. In the northern districts toxicity of boron may be noticed occasionally in the Kari or natural occurring saline alkali soils. A recent survey carried out by Dept. of Agriculture, Government of Kamataka, warrants of deficiency of most of the micronutrients and the need of their careful management X. Management of Problem Soils The following are some of the important management practices to tackle the problems of salinity/alkalinity, acidity and soil erosion. A. Saline and alkali soils The following measures can help to reap richer harvest from saline and alkali soils. 1. Application of suitable amount of gypsum (1-1.5 quintal/ha) depending upon soil type and

exchangeable sodium percentage, will be helpful to reclaim alkali soils. Adequate provision of drainage is an important aspect in order to remove the alkalinity after the incorporation of gypsum. 2. Saline soils can be reclaimed by: a. improving water and soil management practices, b. growing only salt tolerant crops, c. following the scientific methods of irrigation and d application of organic matter. For further information refer booklet No. 39 on saline and alkali soils. B. Acid soils Application of required amount of lime based on the exchangeable aluminium would help to correct acidity. Most of these soils are low in base saturation and therefore, poor in calcium and magnesium. Application of dolomite would be more beneficial as a corrective measure. (Refer booklet No. 35 on Acid Soil: Problems and Reclamation). C. Soil erosion Soil erosion can be prevented by contour bunding and growing trees along the contours in most places in Kamataka. For other methods refer booklet No. 47 on Introduction to Soil Conservation. XI. Priorities for Future Following are the points which require attention on research. 1. Efficient nutrient use in a multiple cropping system; 2. inter-relationship and interactions among plant nutrients; 3. study and reclamation measures of acid and salt affected soils; 4. efficient use of brackish water; 5. soil survey, its classification and mapping; 6. management of soils, irrigated by river projects; 7. improvement of physical conditions of black soils and 8. methods to improve fertilizer use efficiency and increase fertilizer consumption in dry land crops. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%