Red ferruginous soils of tropical Indian environments: A review of the pedogenic processes and its implications for edaphology
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Dilip Kumar Pal, Suhas Wani, Kanwar Lal Sahrawat, Pankaj Srivastava. (17/6/2014). Red ferruginous soils of tropical Indian environments: A review of the pedogenic processes and its implications for edaphology. Catena, 121, pp. 260-278.
Abstract
Red ferruginous (RF) soils of tropical Indian environments belong to Entisols, Inceptisols, Alfisols, Mollisols and
Ultisols soil orders. The occurrence of Ultisols alongside acidic Alfisols and Mollisols in both zeolitic and nonzeolitic
parent materials in humid tropical (HT) climatic environments, indicates that the soil diversity in India
is large. These soils are not confined to a single production systemand generally maintain a positive organic carbon
(OC) balance without adding significantly to greenhouse gas emissions. This review presents a synthesis of
literature on the recent developments on the pedology of RF soils, including their physical, chemical, biological,
mineralogical and micro-morphological properties, and their degradation status. It also addresses the changes
in soil properties in semi-arid tropical (SAT) areas, created by climate shift during the Holocene. This knowledge
contributed to our understanding as to howthe parentmaterial composition influences the formation of Alfisols,
Mollisols and Ultisols inweathering environments of HT climate; and also as to howthe relict Alfisols of SAT areas
are polygenetic. The state-of-the-art information developed through the extensivework on such soils has helped
establish an organic link between pedogenetic processes and bulk soil properties, and has provided an insight of
many pedological and edaphological issues related to Alfisols, Mollisols and Ultisols mainly of HT climate. The
synthesis has helped us to understand as to why the formation of Oxisols from Ultisols is an improbable genetic
pathway in tropical environment of India and elsewhere in the world. There is a strong need to modify the mineralogy
class of highlyweathered RF soils.We hope this review will help to dispel some of the myths on the formation
of tropical soils and their low fertility by putting in context their characteristics and capacity to be
productive