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The Regur Soils of India and Their Utilization¹

ABSTRACT

The Regur or Black Cotton soils of India seem to be members of the same great soil group as the Houston Black and Houston series of Texas, on the basis of field studies by the author in the Deccan plateau in 1951. Similarities between the soils on the separate continents are evident in morphology, contents of organic matter, clay minerals, carbonate content and distribution, and the high coefficients of expansion and contraction upon wetting and drying. Like Houston Black clay, the Regur soils are widely used for cotton, although much greater acreages of the soils, with a total area equal to that of the Corn Belt, are devoted to sorghum, pearl millet, pulses, and other food crops. Agricultural production is largely dependent upon animal power and human labor, with little benefit from products of heavy industry such as tractors, fertilizers, insecticides, and the like. Yield levels for most crops are low as compared to those in the United States, although yields have been stable at these low levels for centuries. Higher levels of production will require substantial changes in the agicultural arts and in the technological and industrial resources available to and used by the cultivators of the Regur soils.

¹ Contribution from the Soil Survey, Soil Conservation Service, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. Presented before Division V, Soil Science Society of America, Dallas, Tex., Nov. 18, 1953.

² Assistant Chief, Soil Survey.

Received for publication December 2, 1953.