Characterization and Classifications of Soils in an Experimental Farm in the Tiruvannamalai District, Tamil Nadu, India

It is essential to characterize and classify soil resources in order to plan agricultural land use agroforestry, agri-horticulture and silvipastoral farming systems. In the present study, an attempt was made to characterize and classify the soils occurring on different topography in an experimental farm in Tiruvannamalai District of Tamil Nadu, India. A detailed soil survey was carried out using cadastral map. Physiographically, the area has been characterized into Pediplain shallow weathered and Pediplain moderately weathered which were further subdivided based on slope and erosion categories. Six typical pedons were identified based on landform and their soil morphological properties. The soils were very shallow to moderately deep, dark reddish brown to yellowish red (red soils) in colour with sub-angular blocky in structure, These soils were sandy loam to sandy clay loam in texture, slightly acidic to mildly alkaline (3.28-7.70) in reaction (non-saline soils) and had low to medium (1.2 to 6.4 g/kg) organic carbon content. Calcium and magnesium were the dominant exchangeable cations followed by sodium and potassium. Taxonomically these soils were classified as Typic Rhodustalfs, Typic Haplustalfs, Vertic Haplustepts and Typic Haplustepts at the subgroup level.