Question

What are the characteristics of black soil?

Answer 1

Black soils are essentially mature soils which have been produced by relief and climate, rather than by a particular type of rock.

Explanation:

The black colour of the soil is due to the presence of titaniferous magnetite, compounds of iron and aluminium, humus and colloidal hydrated double iron and aluminium silicate.

The characteristics of black soil are-

• clayey texture and are highly fertile
• the structure of these soils is cloddish or occasionally friable
• rich in calcium carbonate, magnesium, potash, and lime
  but poor in nitrogen and phosphorous
• highly retentive of moisture, extremely compact and tenacious
  when wet
• contractible and develops deep wide cracks on drying
• calcareous and neutral to mild alkaline in reaction, high
  in carbon exchange capacity and low in organic matter
• self-ploughing and comparatively less fertile on the uplands than
  on the lowlands.

These soils are well suited to leguminous crops like cotton, citrus fruits, millets, wheat, linseed, castor, tobacco, sugar cane, and safflower.