UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES, BANGALORE

Department of Soil Science & Agricultural Chemistry

Extended syllabus
SAC 311. Problematic Soils and Their Management , Geo Informatics (1+1)

Sl Lectures Details
No.
1 Soil Quality and Introduction, Importance & Definition of Soil Quality & Soil
Health Health, List of soil quality Indicators ( Physical , Chemical and
Biological). Distribution of wastelands and problem soils in
India& different agro-ecosystems
2 Soil Reaction Introduction, Importance & Definition. Soil pH definition &
relationship between pH and H+ and OH- ion concentration,
Relationship between pH and pOH, pH scale, pH requirement
for crops
3 Soil reaction and Influence of soil reaction on nutrient availability and plant
nutrient availability,growth, Soil reaction and microbial activity. Buffering
buffering capacity of definition, Buffer action, Buffering capacity of soils, Factors
soil affecting buffering capacity of soils, Importance of Buffering in
Agriculture.
4 Soil Acidity Introduction, distribution of acid soils, definition, Sources&
development of soil acidity, kinds of soil acidity & their
definition, Role of aluminium in development of soil acidity.
Problems of soil acidity- Acid Toxicity, Toxicity of different
nutrient elements - iron and manganese, Toxicity of aluminium,
Nutrient availability, Microbial activity.
Amelioration of acid soils- Liming requirement, liming
materials, Reactions of liming materials in soils, Factors
effecting liming efficiency, neutralizing value of different liming
materials, Methods of applying lime, Beneficial & harmful
effects of overliming.
5 Acid Sulphate soils Introduction, Definition, distribution, characterization &
management of acid sulphate soils.
6 Soil Salinity and Introduction, distribution, kinds of salt affected soils their
alkalinity characteristics, sources & causes for salt affected soils
formation, effect on plant growth and reclamation, Amendments,
Gypsum requirement, leaching requirement
7 Bioremediation Definition, Multipurpose tree species for bioremediation of
problematic soils
8 Eroded and Definition, formation/ characteristics problems and their
compacted soils, management
Flooded soils
9 Soil pollution Definition, sources of soil pollution-pesticides, chemicals and
inorganic contaminant, effect on plant growth and development,
management
10 Irrigation water Quality, classification, utilization of salt water in agriculture
11 Land Evaluation Land capability classification and land suitability-Definition and
classification,
12 Geo-informatics- definition, concepts, tools and techniques
13 Remote sensing Introduction, history and development of remote sensing
concepts; Electromagnetic Spectrum
Platforms and Sensors; ground borne, air borne and space borne
platforms. Types of sensors.
Image Interpretation- Visual and Digital Interpretation
Elements of Aerial Photography / Image analysis
14 Global Positioning Components and functions of GPS
System (GPS) Working Principle of GPS
15 Geographical Introduction to GIS - Definition, Evolution, Components
Information System Spatial data and their management in GIS
(GIS)
16 Applications of Geo- Land Use Land Cover mapping
informatics in Crop stress and yield forecasting
agriculture Soil mapping
Fertility mapping
Land capability and suitability classification
Identification of problematic soils
17 Modelling Crop Simulation Models and their uses for optimization of
Agricultural Inputs