Akshay Shrivastav

The tank silt hybridized soils of the study area are very shallow to shallow in depth, very dark grayish brown (10 YR 3/2) to very pale brown (10YR 7/4) in colour, granular to angular blocky in structure, non sticky non plastic to very sticky, very plastic in nature, silty clay loam to clay in texture. The bulk density of these soils varies from 1.20 to 1.99 M gm-3. The moisture content and PAWC was increased with tank silt hybridization. The saturated hydraulic conductivity of tank silt hybridized soils varies from 2.70 to 27.10 cm hr-1. These soils are slightly to moderately alkaline in reaction (6.70 to 8.45) and low in electrical conductivity (< 1.0 dSm-1) , calcareous in nature, low to medium organic carbon content (0.43 to 0.87%). The cation exchange capacity of tank silt hybridized soil varied from 2.0 to 25.20 cmol(P +) kg-1. The tank silt hybridized soil have Ca ++ , Mg ++ , Na + and K + varied from 10.28 to 33.83, 6.94 to 24.72, 0.36 to 2.54 and 0.18 to 1.61 cmol(p +) kg-1 respectively and Ca is dominant cation followed by Mg, Na and K. Base saturation of tank silt hybridized varies from 92.18 to 98.11 per cent. According U.S. Comprehensive of soil classification (Soil Survey Staff, 2015) these soils were classified as Typic Ustorthents and Lithic Ustorthants. The fertility Status of these soils was low to high. The NPK status was increased with application of tank silt. The maximum yield of soybean was found with 27 cm depth of tank silt hybridized layer soil whereas and pigeon pea 45 cm depth of tank silt hybridized layer soil. The yield of soybean and pigeon pea was found positively correlated with Clay content (r = 0.30, r = 0.42), depth (r = 0.40, r = 0.69) and PAWC (r = 0.52, r = 0.71). This indicated that tank silt hybridization increased the soil depth, clay content and PAWC of the soil which is increases the yield of crop. However, also concluded that shallower the depth of tank silt hybridized layer support to shallow rooted and short duration crop like soybean and deeper (> 45 cm) depth of tank silt hybridized layer support to deep rooted and long duration crop like pigeon pea.

The soil of the study area under pomegranate were very shallow to very deep, reddish brown (5 YR 4/4) to dark grayish brown in colour (10 YR 4/2), clay to sandy loam in texture and granular to angular blocky in structure. The bulk density of the studied soils varied from 1.55 to 1.88 Mgm-3. Plant available water capacity (PAWC) varied from 68.34 to 380.52 mm. The saturated hydraulic conductivity of soil varied from 3.27 to 23.71 cm hr-1. Soil reaction under study area was slightly to strongly alkaline (pH ranged from 7.58 to 8.92) in nature, electrical conductivity of the soil is < 1.0 dSm-1 , organic carbon content very low to high (0.37 to 0.84 percent) and calcareous in nature (4.2 to 15.26%). The maximum CEC was recorded in Typic Haplusterts was 53.26 to 69.78 cmol (P +) kg-1 as compared to Typic Haplusteps and Typic Ustorthent. Taxonomically, these soils of study area classified into Typic Haplusterts, Typic Haplusteps and Calcic Haplusteps. The yield of the pomegranates ranged between 10.86 to 27.10 t ha-1 in the study area. The highest yield was recorded in soils of Typic Haplusteps (Inceptisols) with soil depth less than 30 cm (P5). The fruit quality was increased with increasing amount of CaCO3 in these soils. Soil site suitability according to FAO 1983, the suitability of pomegranate on the basis of optimum yield level the soils of Typic Haplustepts were highly suitable whereas Calcic Haplustepts and Typic Ustorthents were moderately suitable and Typic Haplusterts were marginally suitable for pomegranate. This indicated that the Typic Haplustepts (Inceptisol) and Typic Ustorthents (Entisols) soils underlined by loose weathered basalt below 30 cm soil depth were found to be highly suitable (S1) for pomegranate cultivation followed by Calcic Haplustepts and Typic Haplusterts (Vertisols).

Humic acid efficiently improves soil fertility and crop productivity, especially on poorly fertile and alkaline-calcareous soils. In this field study, the growth, yield and oil content of three mustard varieties viz., S-9, P-78 and AH-2001 were observed under varying levels of humic acid application to a poorly fertile and alkaline-calcareous soil. The humic acid was applied to soil at the time of sowing @ 0, 3.17, 6.35, and 9.35 kg acre-1. Overall varieties, compared to control, the application of humic acid @ 6.35 kg acre-1 positively affected almost all the growth and yield parameters. The variety S-9 responded comparatively better to all the application rates of humic acid than its other two counterparts. The validity of these results is warranted through further experiments.