Abstract :
Nine cotton growing soils located on Deoli, Wardha, Karanja, Ashti tehsils of Wardha district, Maharashtra was characterized. Horizon-wise soil samples were collected and studied for morphological, physical and chemical properties. The soils were brown to very dark gray in colour, shallow (31 cm) to very deep (150 cm), silty clay loam to clay in texture, imperfectly to well drained and most of the soils had sub-angular blocky structure in the B horizon with a few of them having pressure faces and slickensides. The soil had mildly alkaline to strongly alkaline, all these soils were non-saline, organic carbon was low and decreased with depth, high CEC with calcium as dominant cation on exchange complex. These soils were classified as Typic Haplusterts, Typic Calciusterts, Typic Haplustepts, Typic Calciustepts and Lithic Ustorthents at subgroup level.
Keyword :
cotton growing soils, soil characterization, classification