Characteristics of west coast lateritic soils of Southern India

Abstract

Background: Soil fertility is meant for understanding the nutrient requirements, based on fertility status of soils to achieve good crop yields. Soil fertility, compact-ability and erodibility are the domains of soil quality. Among these, the problem of decline in soil fertility compromises maximum productivity. Depletion in soil fertility is the hugest serious due to cropping pattern, leaching, erosion etc., causes loss of considerable amount of nutrients annually. In order to notice information on current soil fertility status, this study was accompanied in different Talukas of Dakhsina Kannada district of coastal Karnataka. Methods: Characterized the soils for fertility status by taking fifty representative samples from each taluk of Dakshina Kannada district in coastal Karnataka to recommend chemical and organic fertilizers applications based on the present soil nutrient status for the farming community.Results: The soils were persisted acidic in reaction, with very low salt content, medium to high in organic carbon status. The available macronutrients of the soil samples indicated that the nitrogen and potassium low to medium in all the Talukas, and low in available phosphorous and Sulphur. Among the DTPA extractable micronutrients, iron and manganese were in high in most samples collected, available copper was adequate and available zinc was also sufficient except in soil samples of Bantwal Taluk. The available boron was found to be low in soils of all the talukas of the district.