Soil quality assessment of two cotton growing agroecological subregions of Vidarbha, Maharashtra

The study was undertaken in soils of two major cotton growing Agroecological Subregions (AESRs) of Vidarbha namely, AESR 6.3 and AESR 10.2. For the same, Akola district has been selected from AESR 6.3, which is characterized by hot, moist semi-arid ecosubregion and Nagpur district is selected from AESR 10.2, which is characterized by hot, dry sub-humid ecosubregion for the study. Twelve profiles were identified for determining physical, chemical and biological indicators of soils. A minimum dataset was developed using expert knowledge for identifying soil quality indicators. Soil quality was determined using concept of Relative Soil Quality Index (RSQI). The RSQI was computed for each pedon based on the five soil attributes, which are known to exert influence on crop productivity. The RSQI was found to be the highest in pedon 3 from AESR 6.3 and pedon 12 from AESR 10.2 and was found to be good quality soil. The RSQI values of both the AESRs were significantly correlated with average cotton yield.