Fertility investigations on the soils of South Kerala in relation to their physiographic positions

Abstract

A study of the soils of South Kerala has been undertaken to investigate the variation in fertility status in relation to their physiographic position. Twelve locations from the districts of Trivandrum and Quilon were selected and from each location soil samples from upper, middle and lower reaches were collected from depths of 0 to 20 cm and 20 to 40 cm. The elevation of the location varied from 20 to 150 meters and the degree of slope from 6 to 27. The lower reaches of all the location were or less level paddy fields. The middle reaches were cultivated to banana, pepper, coconut and tapioca and the upper reaches in addition to the above crop perennials like coconut and rubber.