There is, therefore, great possibility of reclaiming these soils if proper irrigation facilities are

available. The changes in the cropping pattern in the Indira Gandhi Canal Command Area are
a living example of the utility of the desert soils. However, in large areas of desert soils, only
the drought resistant and salt tolerant crops such as barley, rape, cotton, wheat, millets, maize
and pulses are grown. Consequently, these soils support a low density of population.

7. Saline and Alkaline Soils:

These soils are found in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. In the drier parts of Bihar, Uttar
Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Maharashtra, there are salt-impregnated or alkaline
soils occupying 68,000 sq km of area. These soils are liable to saline and alkaline
efflorescences and are known by different names such as reh, kallar, usar, thur, rakar, karl
and chopan.

7. Saline and Alkaline Soils:

By and large, the red soils are poor in lime, magnesia, phosphates, nitrogen and humus, but
are fairly rich in potash. In their chemical composition they are mainly siliceous and
aluminous; with free quartz as sand the alkali content is fair, some parts being quite rich in
potassium.
The texture of these soils varies from sand to clay, the majority being loams. On the uplands,
the red soils are thin, poor and gravelly, sandy or stoney and porous, but in the lower areas
they are rich, deep dark and fertile.
The red soils respond well to the proper use of fertilizers and irrigation and give excellent
yields of cotton, wheat, rice, pulses, millets, tobacco, oil seeds, potatoes and fruits.

4. Laterite and Lateritic Soils:

The word laterite (from Latin letter meaning brick) was first applied by Buchanan in 1810
to a clayey rock, hardening on exposure, observed in Malabar. But many authors agree with
Fermors restriction of this term to soils formed as to 90-100 per cent of iron, aluminium,
titanium and manganese oxides.
as in some parts of the Peninsular plateau.
The forest soils are very rich in humus but are deficient in potash, phosphorus and lime.
Therefore, they require good deal of fertilizers for high yields. They are especially suitable
for plantations of tea, coffee, spices and tropical fruits in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala
and wheat, maize, barley and temperate fruits in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and
Uttaranchal.

6. Arid and Desert Soils:

A large part of the arid and semi-arid region in Rajasthan and adjoining areas of Punjab and
Haryana lying between the Indus and the Aravalis, covering an area of 1.42 lakh sq km (or
4.32% of total area) and receiving less than 50 cm of annual rainfall, is affected by desert
conditions.

Image Courtesy : upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/Rub_al_Khali_002.JPG

There is, therefore, great possibility of reclaiming these soils if proper irrigation facilities are
available. The changes in the cropping pattern in the Indira Gandhi Canal Command Area are
a living example of the utility of the desert soils. However, in large areas of desert soils, only
the drought resistant and salt tolerant crops such as barley, rape, cotton, wheat, millets, maize
and pulses are grown. Consequently, these soils support a low density of population.

7. Saline and Alkaline Soils:

These soils are found in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. In the drier parts of Bihar, Uttar
Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Maharashtra, there are salt-impregnated or alkaline
soils occupying 68,000 sq km of area. These soils are liable to saline and alkaline
efflorescences and are known by different names such as reh, kallar, usar, thur, rakar, karl
and chopan.

7. Saline and Alkaline Soils:

These soils are found in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. In the drier parts of Bihar, Uttar
Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Maharashtra, there are salt-impregnated or alkaline
soils occupying 68,000 sq km of area. These soils are liable to saline and alkaline
efflorescences and are known by different names such as reh, kallar, usar, thur, rakar, karl
and chopan.
The Rann of Kuchchh in Gujarat is an extension of this desert. This area is covered by a
mantle of sand which inhibits soil growth. This sand has originated from the mechanical
disintegration of the ground rocks or is blown from the Indus basin and the coast by the
prevailing south-west monsoon winds. Barren sandy soils without clay factor are also
common in coastal regions of Orissa, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The desert soils consist of
aeolian sand (90 to 95 per cent) and clay (5 to 10 per cent).
Some of these soils contain high percentages of soluble salts, are alkaline with varying degree
of calcium carbonate and are poor in organic matter. Over large parts, the calcium content
increases downwards and in certain areas the subsoil has ten times calcium as compared to
that of the top soil.
The phosphate content of these soils is as high as in normal alluvial soils. Nitrogen is
originally low but its deficiency is made up to some extent by the availability of nitrogen in
the form of nitrates. Thus, the presence of phosphates and nitrates make them fertile soils
wherever moisture is available.
The red soils occupy a vast area of about 3.5 lakh sq km which is about 10.6 per cent of the
total geographical area of the country. These soils are spread on almost the whole of Tamil
Nadu, parts of Karnataka, south-east of Maharashtra, eastern parts of Andhra Pradesh and
Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Chota Nagpur in Jharkhand.
In the north the red soil area extends in large parts of south Bihar; the Birbhum and Bankura
districts of West Bengal; Mirzapur, Jhansi, Banda and Hamirpur districts of Uttar Pradesh;
Aravallis and the eastern half of Rajasthan, parts of Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram,
Tripura and Meghalaya.