Erodibility of major soils of Delhi

Soil erodibility (K) was determined for all soil families of Delhi from five soil characteristics. These five representative properties for computing the soil erodibility were determined during soil resource mapping of the state. The average K values of different soils ranged from 0.15 to 0.41. Coarse loamy and fine loamy, Typic Ustorthents are the least erodible (K ≤0.20) while fine loamy, Typic Ustorthents and Typic Haplustepts are the most erodible (K ≥ 0.40) soils. The remaining soils have erodibility in the range of 0.20 to 0.40 t-ha-hr/ha-MJ-mm. Based on estimated soil losses for average rainfall, topographic and crop management factors of Delhi, the soils are classified as less, moderately and highly erodible for K values ≤0.20, 0.20 − 0.40 and ≥ 0.40, respectively.