Soil Physical Quality of the Indo-Gangetic Plains and Black Soil Region

Understanding the physical quality of soil that influences its hydraulic behaviour helps in formulating appropriate water management strategies for sustainable crop production. Saturated hydraulic conductivity ( K s ) is a key factor governing the hydraulic properties of soils. K s can be estimated through various techniques. In the present article we have developed and validated the regression models to predict K s of the soils of the Indo- Gangetic Plains (IGP) and the black soil regions (BSR) under different bioclimatic systems. While particle size distribution was found to be a key factor to predict K s of the BSR soils, organic carbon was found useful for the IGP soils. Moreover, the models for K s of both soils were strengthened by putting in CaCO 3 and exchangeable sodium percentage content. It seems there is ample scope to study the interaction process for revising K s to desired levels through management practices in these two important food-growing zones. An index of soil physical quality, derived from the inflection points of the soil moisture characteristic curves could well explain the impact of management practices on soil physical quality.