Official Portal - Agriculture Department

AGRICULTURE SOIL FERTILITY MANAGEMENT IN SIKKIM

AGRICULTURE SOIL FERTILITY MANAGEMENT IN SIKKIM

The soil management is the primary function of sustainable land use to satisfy the human needs in such a way that the subsystems of land environment are put to most beneficial uses consistent with their inherent potentialities, while at the same time preserving its qualities for future use.

Soil is directly related to the health of individuals and therefore to the health of nation. In fact in agriculture soil in agriculture soil and water must be considered together if basic resources of land and water are neglected it is bound to have serious economical, social and political repercussions on the community and nation.

Although, the need of good soil fertility status for increase production was realized long ago and local method like organic manure application and use of plant residues as much etc. were developed by the ferment. The use of inorganic fertilizer has received attention only in the last 4 decades. The complexity and magnitude of soil fertility research have assumed much greater dimensions these days due to rapid change from subsistence agriculture to adoption of multiple and intensive cropping for augmenting crop production as a result of introduction of high yielding, short duration, an photo insensitive varieties of important crops. This is causing faster and greater depletion of soil fertility. Severe depletion is soil fertility is bound to occur if suitable steps are not taken simultaneously to restore it through application of balanced organic fertilizer in conjunction with organic manure.

General Description

The trend of mountain system is in general east-west direction, however chief ridges run in a more or less North South direction. The of Sikkim broadly grouped into 5 physiographic Zones based on geomorphology are give in (Table) with their characteristics. The steeply sloping side slope (>52%) cover an area of 43 per cent and soil erosion is the major cause of land degradation and often subjected to land slide or land slip. The National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use planning (NBSSLUP), regional centre, Calcutta surveyed the soil of Sikkim and classified the soil in to 3 texonomic orders of Inceptisol (33.4%), Entisols (43%) and Mollisols (23 6%) and 12 great subgroups on the basis of nature and properties of soil (Anonymous 1992). The depth of soil at different places varies considerably because of differences in physiographic position and slope. The fertility of soil also depends much on the geological formation of the rocks.

Table 1. physiographic classification of Sikkim soils (Anonymous 1992)
Physiographic		Zone/sub zones % slope	Soil depth	% geographical area	Land Use	Constraints
1	soils on summit and Ridge Top Steep sloping Moderate steep sloping Moderately sloping	>30 <30 <15	Deep Deep to moderate Deep	161 261 0 28	Forest (D) paddy and maize Temperate Forest (D) cereals Paddy (D) temperate forest	APE. CT. SA E. SD. SSt E. SSt
2	Soils of side slope of Hills very sleepy Thermic soil temperature regime Isomesic soil temperature regime Escarpments (Thermic soil temperature regime) Steeply sloping side hill Thermic soil temperature regime Isomesic soil temperature regime Cryic soil temperature regime moderately steep sloping side hill Thermic soil temperatue regime	>50 <50 Very steep 33-50 15-30	Moderate deep to deep moderately shallow to Moderately deep Moderately deep to deep Moderately shallow to deep Shallow to Moderately deep Shallow to moderately shallow shallow Moderately deep to deep	14.43 4.59 5.76 13.50 12.83 11.06 2.21	Temperate forest and maize Conifers and junipers (D) cereals in patches Temperate Forest (D) maize Paddy and maize (D) temperate forest conifers and Alpine pasture (D) careal in patches Alpine pasture Paddy, maize, ginger, fruits tropical and temperate	A.E.St A. SD. St. E E.A A.E. st SD, E. St SD. St E.A
3	Soils on Valley Moderately steep sloping valley Thermic soil temperature regime Isomesic soil temperature regime	15-30	Moderately deep to deep Moderately shallow to moderately deep	0.77 0.45	Forest careal Cereals potato temperate fruit forest	E. st A. St. E.
4	Soils on Cliff and precipitous slope Thermic soil Temperature regime Isomesic soil temperature regime		Shallow Extremely shallow	2.35 9.85	Permanent fallow Barren land	SD. E SD.E
5	Soil on Glacial Drift Moraines and Boulders Isomesic soil temperature regime		Moraines and boulders	3.59	Forest	SD. St. E

More Menu

Rice

Maize

Finger Millet

Barley

Wheat

Urd

Pea

Soybean

Mustard

Large Cardamom

Chilli

Tumeric

Coriander

Ginger

INTREGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT (IPM)

Seeds

Farm Machinery

Marketing

Water Management

Plant Protection

Soil

Storage

General Information

Extension Activities'

Crop Disease Detail

ICAR

Crop

Publication

AGRICULTURE SOIL FERTILITY MANAGEMENT IN SIKKIM