Excessively permeable soils

Excessively Permeable Soils 

Excessively permeable soils are those having high amount of sand exceeding 70- percent. Due to this, the soils are inert and unable to retain nutrient and water. These soils being devoid of finer particles and organic matter, the aggregates are weakly formed, the non-capillary pores dominating with very poor soil structure. Due to low retaining capacity of the soils, the fertilizer nutrients are also lost in the drainage water. These soils are spread over 24, 12, and 086 ha in Tamil Nadu (23:97% of total geographic area). 

Management 

The excessively preamble soils can be managed by adopting the techniques given below. 

1. Compacting the field with 400kg stone roller (tar drum filled with 400 kg of sand or stones can also be used) 8-10 times at optimum moisture conditions. 

2. Application of clay soil up to a level 100 t ha-1 based on the severity of the problem and availability of clay materials. 

3. Application of organic materials like farm yard manure, compost, press mud, sugar factory slurry, composted coir pith, sewage sludge etc.

4. Providing asphalt sheet, polythene sheets etc. below the soil surface to reduce the infiltration rate. 

5. Crop rotation with green manure crops like Sunhemp, sesbania, daincha, kolinchi etc.