Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry 2020; 9(3): 382-387 E-ISSN: 2278-4136 P-ISSN: 2349-8234 www.phytojournal.com Physical and chemical properties of soils in JPP 2020; 9(3): 382-387 Received: 14-03-2020 Banaskantha district under groundnut cultivation Accepted: 18-04-2020 HD Chaudhari HD Chaudhari, JR Jat, S Kumar, JK Malav and RP Pavaya Department of Agricultural Chemistry & Soil Science, C.P. Abstract College of Agriculture, S.D. Agricultural University, The current investigation was aimed to study the physical and chemical properties of soils of Sardarkrushinagar, Gujarat, Banaskantha district under groundnut cultivation, Gujarat, India. One hundred forty surface soil samples India (0-15 cm) from various groundnut growing fields (Ten samples from each taluka) of Banaskantha were collected during May, 2018 by using multistage stratified random sampling. The collected soil samples JR Jat were analyzed for various physical and chemical properties viz., soil texture, electrical conductivity, soil Agroforestry Research Centre, reaction, organic carbon, available P2O5 and K2O by adopting standard analytical procedure. The S.D. Agricultural University, majority of soils of this tract were found loamy sand and their texture varied from sandy to sandy loam. Sardarkrushinagar, Palanpur, The soils of Banaskantha district were neutral to mildly alkaline in reaction and no salinity hazards (more Gujarat, India than 98 per cent samples were categorized under normal range of soil salinity having EC < 1.0 dSm-1). The soils of Banaskantha district were low in organic carbon (> 83 per cent soil samples were S Kumar categorized under low organic carbon content). On the basis of nutrient index, the soils of this region Agroforestry Research Centre, were found low in organic carbon (1.171), marginal in available phosphorus (1.821) and adequate in S.D. Agricultural University, available potassium (2.221). Sardarkrushinagar, Palanpur, Gujarat, India Keywords: Groundnut, Banaskantha, soil properties JK Malav Department of Agricultural Introduction Chemistry & Soil Science, C.P. Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is one of the most important oilseed crops of the world. College of Agriculture, S.D. India is the second largest producer of groundnut in the world. It is a species in the legume or Agricultural University, Sardarkrushinagar, Gujarat, “bean” family. The name Arachis hypogaea L. is derived from the Greek word Arachis means India the legume and hypogaea means below ground. Groundnut is self-pollinated, allotetraploid legume with the chromosome number (2n = 40). The groundnut originated in South America RP Pavaya from where, it spread to Asia, Africa, Sudan, Nigeria, U.S.A. and other parts of the world. It is Department of Agricultural commercially grown in more than hundred countries like India, China, U.S.A. and West Chemistry & Soil Science, C.P. College of Agriculture, S.D. Africa. Groundnut was probably introduced in India in the middle of nineteenth century on Agricultural University, east coast of the South Aricot district in Tamil Nadu and large scale cultivation was taken up Sardarkrushinagar, Gujarat, by the middle to late nineteenth century. India In India, groundnut is grown on 4.56 million hectare land and the production of 6.77 million tones with an average productivity of 1486 kg ha-1 (DAC and FW, 2016) [1]. Majority (80 per cent) of the groundnut area and 84 per cent of the production is confined to the states of Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra. Among these, Gujarat ranks first both in area and production. During 2017-18 the Gujarat has the area under kharif and summer groundnut was 1.599 million ha and 0.063 million ha with the production of 3.77 and 0.13 M.T., respectively. The average productivity of groundnut was 2360 kg ha-1 in kharif -1 [2] and 2140 kg ha in summer (DOA, 2018) . Among various district of Gujarat, groundnuts is largely cultivated in Junagadh, Jamnagar, Rajkot, Amreli, Bhavnagar, Sabarkantha and Banaskantha. The hand-picked selected (HPS) groundnut is mainly exported from Saurashtra region of Gujarat, looking to the demand of the edible oil seeds, groundnut cultivation has extended to rabi and summer season depending upon the existing temperature regimes. The yield potentially of summer groundnut as observed under North Gujarat Agro-climatic -1 [3] condition is more than 2 t ha (Dodia, 1998) . The productivity of summer groundnut is considerably higher than the kharif groundnut due to favourable condition such as high temperature, more sunshine hours, assured irrigation under controlled condition and Corresponding Author: comparatively low incidence of disease and pests (Sabale and Khuspe, 1986) [9]. JK Malav Department of Agricultural Knowledge about the fertility status of the soils is of prime importance for the optimum use of Chemistry & Soil Science, C.P. land. Proper understanding of nutrients availability in soils and extent of their deficiency is College of Agriculture, S.D. prerequisite for efficient management of fertilizers to sustain the groundnut productivity. Soil Agricultural University, surveying from groundnut field provides information regarding availability of nutrients in soil Sardarkrushinagar, Gujarat, and presence of various forms which provides the basis for the fertilizer recommendations India ~ 382 ~ Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry http://www.phytojournal.com for maximizing groundnut yields. Soil fertility provides the Results and Discussions information for highlighting the nutrient needs. Obviously, a Physical and chemical properties of soil soil fertility status for a particular area can be proved highly Mechanical analysis beneficial in guiding the farmers, manufactures and planner in Mechanical analysis gives the percentage of sand, silt and ascertaining the requirement of various fertilizers in a season / clay fraction in soils and which are used for their textural year and making projections for increasing requirement based classification. The data related to mechanical composition on cropping pattern and intensity. Thus, present survey work revealed that sand content in different soils of Banaskantha was planned to conduct systematic soil survey and find out district was ranged between 78.50 to 95.00 per cent with a the soil physical and chemical properties of Banaskantha mean value of 88.22 per cent. The minimum and maximum district under groundnut cultivation. sand content were found in soils of Deesa and Bhabhar taluka, respectively. Further the data indicated that maximum silt Materials and Methods content (11.00 per cent) was recorded in soil of Kankrej Geographically, Banaskantha district is situated in northern taluka whereas, minimum silt content (2.50 per cent) was part of Gujarat and falls under North Gujarat Agro Climatic recorded in soils of Amirgadh, Bhabhar, Danta, Dantiwada, Zone. It lies between 23o 30’ to 24o 45’N latitudes and 71o 03’ Deesa, Dhanera, Deodar, Lakhani and Palanpur talukas of to 73o 02’ E longitudes with an elevation of 154.52 Mt. above Banaskantha with a mean value of 5.29 per cent. Clay content the mean sea level. It is surrounded by Barmer and Sirohi area in soils of Banaskantha district ranged from 2.50 per cent to of Rajasthan in north, Patan district in south, Sabarkantha 13.00 per cent with a mean value of 6.49 per cent. Minimum district in east and Kutch district in the west. The district clay content (2.50 per cent) was found in soils of Bhabhar, comprises of 6.58 per cent of total geographical area of the Danta and Vav talukas, while maximum clay (13.00 per cent) state. The total geographical area of district is 10,400 sq. km. content was noted in soils of Deesa taluka. Similar results having 14 talukas. Geographically, it is divided into two main were obtained by Patel et al. (2011) [6] in the soils of parts i.e. Northeast hilly portion and western plains. Banaskantha district. The region is characterized by arid and semi arid climate with Based on the results obtained from the mechanical analysis of extreme cold winter, hot and dry summer, rainfall is erratic soil samples, out of 140 surface soil samples, one sample falls and uneven involving intermittent long dry spell and late in sandy loam, fifty one samples in sandy and eighty eight onset and early withdrawal of monsoon. In general monsoon samples under loamy sand category (Table 2). The soil texture commences in the last week of June or first week of July and of Banaskantha district ranged from sandy to sandy loam, but retreats by the middle of September. Most of the precipitation majority of soils are covered under loamy sand (62.85 per is received from South-West monsoon concentrating in the cent of total soils). month of July and August. The average annual rainfall of the season is about 600 mm. The minimum temperature of season Soil Reaction (pH) is observed in the month of December and January. The rising Soil reaction is one of the most important properties of soil in temperature starts from middle of February and reaches because it controls the availability of nutrients, microbial maximum in the month of May. It ranges from 30o to 45o C. activities and physical conditions of soil up to a great extent. Geological area has different types of geological formation Soil reaction indicates the activities of H+ and OH- ions in soil from archean to recent alluvium. In general, the soils of solutions. Data presented in Table 3 revealed that the overall Banaskantha district are sandy to sandy loam in texture, pH of the soils varied from 6.81 to 7.90 with a mean value of having very low organic matter with poor moisture retention 7.38. The lowest (6.81) pH was recorded in the soils of Benap capacity. The soils are highly prone to water as well wind village of Suigam taluka, whereas the highest value (7.90) erosion. Fertile alluvial soil type is found in middle part of the was recorded in Salpura village of Deodar taluka.