Identification of edaphic constraints for crop production in Warangal district of central Telangana Zone

Land characterization based on general soil physical and fertility status was done in terms of soil physical and nutrient index for soils of Warangal district of Andhra Pradesh. Fourteen pedons representing the major traditional soil types of the district were selected for physical index and 20 surface samples from each administrative division (9 nos) were collected for nutrient index computations. Physical rating index computed from the weightages assigned to the major edaphic parameters viz., soil depth, bulk density, moisture storage capacity, infiltration/hydraulic conductivity, aggregation, non-capillary pore space, depth of water table and slope varied from 0.47 to 0.73 for their wide ranged soil properties and thus Bachannapet and Wardhannapet soils were classified to suitability class IV. The Tadvai, Nallabelli, Eturunagram, Eletiramyapalli, Raghunathapalli, Pakala, Malyal, Duganndi, Regonda, Khanpur, Ghanapur and Warangal RS soils were grouped as moderately suitable (Class-III). The soil available N, P and K content of studied regions ranged from 145–270, 8.1–22.4 and 171–355 kg ha−1, respectively. The calculated soil nutrient index indicated that most soils were low in nitrogen, medium in phosphorus and high in potash. The major edaphic constraints identified were high sub-soil bulk density, low available water storage capacity and low infiltration and low nitrogen and medium in phosphorus. The need based management practices such as application of organic matter, deep ploughing, provision of good drainage and contour cultivation were suggested for management practices to increase the crop productivity of the studied regions.