Sandy soil Management Introduction Sandy soils are characterized by less than 18% clay and more than

65% sand in the first 100 cm of the solum. The sand ground include all soils in which the sand separate make up at least 70% and clay separate 15% or less of the material by weight. The soils having 70 to 90 per cent of sand are termed as excessively permeable and coarse textured soils. The agricultural productivity of sandy soils is low due to high water and nutrient losses from root zone during rainy season or under heavy irrigation. The coarse textured soils are not totally undesirable as they also have some desirable properties of good drainage and aeration to crop plants. Sandy soil characters Sandy soils are weakly developed soils with weak profile horizon formation

due

slow

chemical

weathering.

Physical

weathering

predominates in response to extreme variations in temperature. Sand grains may be rounded or irregular depending on the amount of Unless coated with clay and silt, sand particles are not sticky and Water holding capacity of sand grains is low because of the large abrasion they have undergone.

cannot be molded and are non plastic.

spaces between the separate, particles which promote rapid movement of air and water.

They have good drainage and aeration but may be drought prone. The hydraulic conductivity of sandy soil ranges from 5.2 to 9.5 m d-1. The surface area occupied by a gram of the sand is 0.1 m2 .

Soil structure is very weak and unstable. Management of physical problems of sandy soil The different technologies can be grouped into 1. 2. 3. Enhancing moisture retention Minimising percolation losses of water Erosion control measures

I.

Enchancing moisture retention Being a coarse textured soil with very high amount of sand and much less of clay and silt, efforts were made to increase the water retentivity of soils by following different techniques. a. Mulching The naturally available waste materials can be spread over the soil surface between the rows and crop plants in the cropped field based on its availability. Approximately the requirement of these materials is 10 to 15 t ha-1 for preventing the evaporative loss of water. In case of synthetic mulching materials, the black and thick polythene sheets are spread over the soil surface between the rows and crop plants, leaving gaps for the plant hills or stems alone. Due to wind erosion fine sand and silt particles brought from the neighbouring area and deposited over sandy soils might be minimized the evaporation. b. Clay incorporation In the coarse textured soils, addition of sufficient amounts of fine soil material like tank silt (pond sediments) or fine textured black soil, increases the moisture retentivity of soil and thereby resulting higher yield of crops. Such practice of increasing the fineness of texture in coarse textured soil is a permanent improvement when compared to organic amendments. Further addition of bentonite clay @ 2.5-3.0 kg / m trench in sandy soil had resulted in significant enhancement of water retention c. Organic wastes incorporation Different organic amendments (carbonaceous waste materials from the byproducts of industries and farms) have been used to improve the water retentivity of sandy soils. Eventhough, they are having slow rate of decomposition in soil, used as soil amendment to improve physical condition of the soil. In coarse textured soil, coir pith plays a vital role not only to reduce water requirement for the crop but also to raise the crop yield. The reduction in bulk density and hydraulic conductivity of soil has made

favourable physical condition by enabling roots proliferation due to buoyancy of soil created by organic waste and increase the yield. II. Minimizing percolation losses of water In coarse textured soil, excessive permeability leads to enormous wastage of water and it will be a major limitation in these soils especially when scarcity of water prone tracts. With the availability of limited quantity of water, adequate attention are needed to minimize the excessive percolation loss and make the best use of water to get satisfactory returns from crops. a. Use of barrier in sub soil A thin layer of 1 cm thick asphalt had been used as a barrier in subsurface (at about 25 cm from soil surface) of sandy soil for protecting the properties of ground water and enhancing the productivity of land b. Compaction techniques Percolation losses in sandy soils are mainly due to the high porous and excessively permeable nature. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Reducing infiltration Reduces time taken for each irrigation Reduces water requirement of crops Controls soil erosion Retains more moisture at sowing time Improves effectiveness of added fertilizers Increases nutrient uptake Ultimately increases yield potential of crops While a) b) compacting the sandy soils the following points are considered . Compaction should be done at proper moisture only and sub-soil has Compaction once in two years is sufficient since the effect of to be compacted for better nutrient and moisture retention. compaction persists for two years Under such conditions compaction resulted the following beneficial results.

c)

After compaction, the top soil should be manipulated for better

seedling emergence and crop stand. III. Erosion control measures In arid and semi arid regions (more susceptible to wind erosion than water erosion) having sandy soils are loaded with lot of fine sand and silt particles when high velocity of wind occurs and deposited in the adjoining lands. Thus, wind erosion causes severe damages to the health of soil and crop environment. a. Land levelling When there is more slope, the condition favourable for facilitating surface runoff of soil along with rain water. The sloppy nature is nullified by forming normal gentle slope or near flat land surface, the surface runoff will be minimized and consequently infiltration rate of water will increase, leading to higher moisture storage possibility in subsoil. b. Tillage A major advantage of zero and minimum tillage techniques is used to leave crop residues on soil to protect from the impact of direct rainfall. It prevents the dispersion of soil material from aggregates and maintains the infiltration capacity of soil consequently minimize soil erosion problems. c.Gravel Layers Placement of gravel layers on the surface or within the topsoil decreases evaporative water losses by disrupting the capillary flow. It also help them to retain more water than uniform soil, when water is initially applied because water does not move through gravel until the soil above has reached saturation. d. Pasture developments (or grass cover or vegetative canopy development) Grass cover or pasture developments prevented surface soil getting lifted by direct wind or rainwater. The grasses with fibrous root system will bind the loose soil into aggregates and minimize the erodibility of land. Unless such erosions are controlled, fertile and productive lands may be affected.

e. Wind belt and fuel wood plantations In order to minimize the velocity of wind in sandy tracts, establishment of wind belt with short shrubs and tall trees alternatively in strips is very much beneficial and profitable. Windbreaks and shelterbelts can effectively reduce wind velocity by 60 to 80%. f. Surface mulch Spreading of organic and inorganic wastes on the sandy soils will prevent not only evaporation loss of soil moisture but also minimize wind action. Mulches can be plastic film, woven plastic geotextiles, or layers of organic refuse spread over the soil surface. Any material can be used as mulch around plants if allows air and water to penetrate through the soil. g. Use of Dry Vegetation as Vertical Hedges In dry vegetation (Imperata cylindrica, Aristide pungens, Artemisia herba alba, Retama raetam) or palm fronds are buried, preferably in moist trenches to a depth of 15 cm, leaving about 35 cm extended above the surface as a conventional method. l. Use of Artificial Surface Sealants Petroleum, synthetic rubber, chemicals and water soluble plastics are examples of new products which have been recently used in dune and drift sand stabilization. Spraying synthetic rubber latex and synthetic resins were form an aggregated surface for establish vegetative cover. Management of chemical problems of sandy soils The management aspects of soil chemical problems associated with these soils can be grouped into the following categories. 1. Improvement of nutrient retention and enhancing CEC in sandy soils a) Clay incorporation b) Incorporation of organic matter 2. Fertility improvement a) Major nutrients b) Micronutrients c) Slow release fertilizers

d) Split application e) Irrigation Management f) Crop rotation and cropping sequence 3. Salt affected sandy soil improvement a) Leaching with good quality irrigation water b) Amending with gypsum for alkali soils c) Improvement of drainage facility and lowering water table of ground water d) Salt resistant crop varieties 1. Enhancing CEC of soil a. Clay incorporation In coarse textured soil, addition of clay can be improved the nutrient retention and CEC ( b. Incorporation of organic matter The organic waste like coir-pith, oil cake, farm waste, crop residues, FYM, etc., are having very highly beneficial effect on nutrient retention power in sandy soil. During the breakdown of organic matter by microorganisms, compounds that are formed such as gums, waxes, and resins will help to bind soil particles together as granules or aggregates. A well-aggregated soil has high water infiltration rate. 2. Soil fertility improvements a. Major nutrients Sandy soils are generally poor in almost all the nutrients. The rapid losses of nutrients due to leaching in excessively permeable sandy soils, it is essential for split application of nutrients. i. Nitrogen Nitrogen fertilizers can be applied in more number of splits than practiced for normal soil conditions. Among the nitrogenous fertilizers, ammonium sulphate was most preferable due more retention of NH 4+ form in addition to supply of sulphur nutrient to the crop under sandy soil condition .To decrease the loss of N by leaching the suggested practices are

ii. Phosphorus Good soil management which leads to an increase in fine fraction and application of organic manures would tend to increase the phosphorus content and soil fertility. Phosphorus is usually immobilized in soil due to low content of clay and organic fractions in sandy soils. iii. Potassium Split application of potassium fertilizers to increase the K use efficiency in sandy soil. b. Micronutrients Sandy soils are poor in micronutrients. Iron, manganese and zinc deficiencies are noticeable on sandy soils. Foliar spraying with these elements is commonly recommended. The use of chelating agents will also help to improve the micronutrient use efficiency. c. Slow release fertilizers The use slow release nitrogenous fertilizers such as neem coated urea, urea super granules, thiourea etc will improve the N use efficiency in sandy soil. The local conditions is very important for highly permeable soil in order to avoid leaching losses and provides sustained availability of N to crop throughout its growth phase. d. Water management by different irrigation methods 1. Sprinkler Irrigation Sprinkler irrigation ensures correct depth of water applied and resulting uniform distribution. Sprinkler irrigation has inherent features and it well adapted to sandy soils. The water losses are low due to transport of water by pressure pipes. 2. Drip Irrigation Drip irrigation is the latest irrigation methods and it has the advantages viz., water saving, higher yields, utilization of brackish waters, manual labour extremely reduced, decreases in diseases, weed control etc. f. Placement of an Asphalt Barrier

The rapid percolation of water through sandy soils, coupled with low water retention capacity is being limiting factor for profitable use of sandy soils. Asphalt barriers are economically feasible because they are long term investment In sandy soil, provision barriers not only save irrigation water, produces higher yields but also provide the possibility of more efficient furrow irrigation. 3. Application of amendments Application lime material to acid sandy soil (pH 6.2), which is essential for successful establishment of alfalfa on either dryland, or irrigated sandy soils. The rate of change in soil pH brought about by liming depends on the fineness of limestone material applied. All liming materials should be broadcasted and incorporated before the alfalfa is seeded. Improvement of salt affected sandy soil Generally sandy soils occupying normal type of relief and are nonsaline and non-alkaline. Under high rainfall conditions, these soils are acidic because of washing down of all the bases. On the contrary coarse textured soils of sea coastal zones are commonly saline and alkaline with varying degree of hazards. Casuarina and palmyrah are efficiently resistant to salinity-alkalinity in sandy soil condition. Among the field crops fingermillet, chillies, cotton and jasmine gave better performance in coastal Ramnad district of Tamil Nadu. well. The green leaf manuring crops, Cassia auriculata comes up very Tephrosea purpurea is a good performing self-sown green manure

crop in sandy soil. a. Soil reclamation Since theri soil is very coarse, with low water-retention qualities and reclamation measures widely based on available local resources and costeffective. The green leaves are used for reclamation of theri lands but it is very difficult to supply sufficiently large amounts of green leaves. b. Concrete cultivation

In this method, the top oil is removed to a certain depth, depending on the root system of the crop, a layer of cement mortar is poured on and topsoil is replaced. The idea is to prevent water loss through percolation. This method is costlier one. c. Tank silt application The applications of tank silt @ 20 lorry loads (about 200 tonnes) per acre and followed by five lorry loads per year for the next few years will improve the soil condition suitable for many crops. It is the cheapest and best method and recommended for management of sandy soil by agricultural department. d. Suitable crops for theri lands The indigenous drought-resistant tree species were palmyra (Borassus flabellifer), odai (Acacia planifrons), tamarind (Tamarindus indica) and neem (Azadirachta indica) are better suited to theri conditions, but are less profitable. suitable for theri lands. Recent technologies for management of sandy soil. 1. Application of Brown coal Organic-mineral preparation using with brown coal remarkably influenced the improvement of physical and water properties of arable layer of sandy soil. The influence was either direct or indirect. The direct impact was resulted from its chemical composition, which is the content of nutrients and humic acids, whereas indirect impact was caused by structure of the preparation, especially by strongly developed porosity system. Changes of these properties depend upon the quality of applied brown coal and when applying 160 tons ha-1 it was higher. 2. Application of distillery Effluent The distillery effluent is a liquid waste obtained from distillery industry contains large quantities of soluble organic matter and plant nutrients. It does not contain any toxic elements / compounds. The crops like coconut and drumstick are also

The results of the post harvest soil analysis indicated that application of distillery effluent until @ 5 lake litres ha-1 significantly improved the physical properties of soil by reducing the bulk density and increasing the water holding capacity and also increased the organic carbon, exchangeable Ca, Mg and Na as given in table.30. 3. Improvement of Sandy Soil by Vetiver Grass Mulching and Compost Due to the deep and dense roots system of vetiver grass widely adopted for conservation sandy soil. Technique for Greening of Sandy Soil The technique It consists of a. Leaking water prevention technique. b. Water evaporation prevention technique. c. Water reserving technique of plant roots. d. Manipulation in plant population.