MOHIT SHARMA, R. S. GARHWAL*, DINESH TOMAR, ANIL KUMAR DHAKA, CHARAN SINGH, KRISANU GOLUI AND HARSH POONIA
Department of Soil Science, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar-125004 (Haryana), India
Department of Agronomy, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar-125004 (Haryana) India
*(e-mail: rsg.rca2011@gmail.com)
(Received: 2 April 2025; Accepted: 4 June 2025)
SUMMARY
Land use can significantly impact soil formation from similar parent material even under similar climate. The present study of rice and adjacent non-rice growing soils was carried out to evaluate the pedological development of soils in Kaithal district of Haryana with the help of field morphology rating system, focusing on the dynamics of soil morphological properties. A total of four pedons were excavated comprising of two rice and two adjacent non-rice pedons in the month of November 2024. To evaluate pedological development, a rating scale was used by comparing adjacent horizons for the relative horizon distinctness (RHD) and comparing horizons with the C- horizon for relative profile development (RPD) in different soil pedons. All the soil samples were alkaline in nature and none of the samples were saline in these pedons. The old alluvial soils of rice growing and adjacent non-rice growing pedons have RHD ratings varied from 3 to 12 and 1 to 5, respectively, and RPD ratings varied from 7 to 14 and 5 to 8, respectively, indicating that pedological development was in the order of rice growing pedons > adjacent non-rice growing pedons.
Key words: Morphology, rice, pedons, relative horizon distinctness, relative profile distinctness and Kaithal (Haryana)