Advancements in Soil Physics and its impact on Sustainable Agriculture.

Abstract

Enhancing crop productivity with higher input use efficiency without any damage to the soil and water resources is a big challenge to Indian agriculture. Soil is a complex system having physical, chemical and biological properties which differ from soil type to soil type. These properties/characteristics play an important role in deciding the response of any management imposed and thus ultimately govern the soil productivity and inputs use efficiency. It is, therefore, important that before developing any technology for the judicious use of inputs, these characteristics including soil-water-plant relations are well understood. In the recent past various advancements have been made to understand the various soil physical processes and the flow mechanism of water, gases and heat into and from the soil profile which affects the soil environment and the atmosphere above it. Different models have been developed with an attempt to solve many problems related to complex and dynamic soil-water-tillage-nutrient-plant system. Also, techniques have been developed for rapid and precise estimation of various kinds of abiotic stresses which have a bearing on plant growth, grain yield and judicious use of various inputs in agriculture in order to arrive at sustainable and conservation agriculture. Our knowledge on the subject, however, is still limited owing to the complex nature of the soil system. There is need to study this dynamic system in-depth in multidisciplinary mode, including the root system architecture with respect to water and nutrient uptake and mitigation of various kinds of plant abiotic and biotic stresses. This paper discusses, in brief, the various advancements made in the area of soil physics and their impact on sustainable agriculture.