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How fertile are semi-arid tropical soils?

OAR@ICRISAT

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Relation http://oar.icrisat.org/9491/
http://dx.doi.org/10.18520/cs/v110/i9/1671-1674
10.18520/cs/v110/i9/1671-1674
 
Title How fertile are semi-arid tropical soils?
 
Creator Sahrawat, K L
 
Subject Soil Science
 
Description The semi-arid tropical (SAT) regions are notably
characterized by low rainfall and high temperatures,
and hence low natural primary productivity and soil
fertility. However, to adequately respond to the title of
our article as to how fertile are SAT soils, there is a
need to critically review the current literature on the
fertility status of SAT soils. Little attention has been
paid in the past to determining the fertility status of
SAT soils supporting rainfed production systems despite
the fact that the SAT soils are relatively fragile
than their irrigated counterparts; and this is due to
their widespread degradation and lack of investment
in building up the fertility. However, as in the case of
other agroecosystems, the soils in the SAT regions
vary widely in various fertility parameters. For example,
the results of survey of large numbers of farmers’
fields in the SAT regions of India, by the ICRISAT
and its partners, showed that they vary widely in soil
pH, salts (electrical conductivity, EC), organic C (an
index of available N) and major (N and P), secondary
(S) and micronutrients (B and Zn) although the soils
were low in organic C with widespread deficiencies of
these nutrients. From the results discussed in this
article, it is concluded that in general, the soils in the SAT regions are low in fertility; however, they vary
widely in various fertility parameters.
 
Publisher Indian Academy of Sciences
 
Date 2016-05-10
 
Type Article
PeerReviewed
 
Format application/pdf
 
Language en
 
Rights —
 
Identifier http://oar.icrisat.org/9491/1/1671%20How%20fertile%20are%20semi-arid%20tropical%20soils.pdf
Sahrawat, K L (2016) How fertile are semi-arid tropical soils? Current Science, 110 (09). pp. 1671-1674. ISSN 0011-3891