Understanding the Sorghum-growing Soils in a Semi-arid Ecosystem of Telangana, India and Assessing their Land Suitability for Sorghum Cultivation

Background: Sorghum (Jowar), a nutritionally rich, great millet is frequently cultivated in semi-arid tracts of India but at places without considering the suitable soil-sites, which result in lower productivity. Thus, understanding of sorghum-growing pedo-environment vis-à-vis crop requirements is a pre-requisite for soil-site evaluation of crop and hence present case study was carried out in Mahabubnagar rural mandal of Mahabubnagar district, Telangana state. Methods: The detailed soil survey (1:10000 scale) of Mahabubnagar Rural mandal (Mahabubnagar district), Telangana was carried out using Sentinel 2 satellite data and mapped with 66 mapping units. These mapping units along with relevant physical and chemical properties were evaluated for their suitability for sorghum farming. Result: Our results indicated that major sorghum-growing soils of Mahabubnagar Rural mandal have been grouped as Typic Rhodustalfs, Aquic Haplustalfs, and Typic Haplusterts at the sub group level. Out of the 18-soil series, major sorghum-growing soils belong to Telugugudam, Kotakadira and Potanpalle series occupying 7.56 % of the geographical area. The soil-site evaluation study indicated that the maximum area (33.99 per cent) was rated as marginally suitable with limitations of gravelliness, nutrient availability, rooting conditions, and texture while 1.51 per cent area was highly suitable for sorghum cultivation.