CHANDANA*, B. VAJANTHA, M. SREENIVASA CHARI, U. VINEETHA AND M.V.S. NAIDU

Department of Soil Science And Agricultural Chemistry, S.V. Agricultural College, ANGRAU, Tirupati-517 502.

ABSTRACT

Soil physical, physico-chemical properties are important for favourable crop growth and maintaining soil health. Cropping

systems exert significant influence on soil properties which effects crop yield. Keeping this view, a study was taken up to know the effect of major cropping systems on soil physical and physico-chemical properties in SPSR Nellore district, Andhra Pradesh, India. Totally 100 soil samples were collected from five major cropping systems viz., paddy-paddy, fallow-paddy, paddy-cotton, paddy-pulses and groundnut-paddy (20 samples from each cropping systems) in SPSR Nellore district analysed for texture, bulk density, pH, EC and organic carbon. The results revealed that the texture of soils under study in different cropping systems are sandy clay loam, sandy loam, clay loam and clay. The bulk density of soil varied from 1.10 Mg m-3 in fallow-paddy, paddy- pulses cropping systems to 1.80 Mg m-3 in paddy-paddy cropping systems. The pH of soils varied from 5.7 (slightly acidic) in paddy-cotton cropping system to 8.7 (strongly alkaline) in paddy-pulses cropping system. The EC of soils varied from 0.07 dS m-1 in fallow- paddy cropping system to 0.9 dS m-1 in paddy-pulses cropping system. The organic carbon varied from 0.29 per cent in paddy-paddy cropping system to 0.62 per cent in paddy-pulses cropping system.

KEYWORDS: Cropping systems, Soil physical and physico-chemical properties, SPSR Nellore district.