The report presents the study on the physio-chemical properties of soil for Basantar catchment in Jammu and Kashmir. Soil physio-chemical properties are basic inputs for any hydrological modeling and are important for efficient management of irrigated agriculture. The most important soil properties influencing irrigation are its infiltration characteristics and water holding capacity. Other soil properties such as soil texture, soil structure, capillary conductivity, soil profile conditions, and depth of water table are also given consideration in the management of irrigation water.
From the point of view of hydrology, rainfall-runoff, soil erosion, sedimentation, groundwater quantity & quality modeling, the physio-chemical properties of soil are important. In the design of drainage systems, the particle size analysis of soil and soil moisture retention capacity plays an important role. It is important to know the physical and chemical properties of soil i.e., permeability, porosity, infiltration, moisture content, soil organic matter, potassium and sodium in groundwater modeling. Also, to determine the soil erodibility factor - K in the Universal Soil Loss Equation, percentage of silt and sand, soil structure and permeability of soil are basic inputs.
Therefore, in the present study various physio-chemical properties such as: texture, porosity, infiltration, permeability, specific gravity, bulk density, moisture content, soil moisture retention curves, soil organic matter, potassium and sodium were determined for the Basantar basin.
The soil in the basin is dominated by sand and the average percentage of various particle sizes is: gravel – 13.31, sand – 74.78 and silt – 11.83. The average infiltration rate for various land uses are - barren (6.44 cm/hr), grass (3.30 cm/hr), agriculture (12.40 cm/hr) and forest (11.70 cm/hr). The organic matter in different land use conditions was 13 to 22 per cent in forest, 9.32 to 21.89 per cent in agricultural land, 3.64 to 17.83 per cent in grass land and 7.7 to 18.64 per cent in barren land. It is less than 25 per cent in all the analyzed soil samples. Potassium in the different land use conditions was found in the range of 5.46 to 91 mg/g while sodium ranged between 4.90 to 36 mg/g.
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