Department of Soil Science was established in 1960 as a part of the College of Agriculture in the University. Our department deals with soil as a natural resource on the surface of the earth including soil formation, classification and mapping; physical, chemical, biological, and fertility properties of soils per se; and these properties in relation to the use and management of soils. We trained our PG and Doctoral program students in the above branches of soil science. The postgraduate programme at Master’s level started in 1963 and Ph.D. programme in 1967. Since then a significant increase in the size of faculty and the areas of specialization, remarkable improvement in the laboratory facilities and appreciable growth in the number of courses have been registered.

Vision:

To develop a centre of excellence in creating and disseminating knowledge in Soil Science for sustainable and productive use of natural resources for the welfare of humankind.

Mission

To provide high quality education to the students with an understanding of and ability to apply fundamental principles of Soil Science and neutral resource management

To develop knowledge of soil science and the interrelationships with plant nutrition, plant growth and environmental quality

To apply this knowledge to advance resource efficient and environmentally sound soil management technologies.

Mandate

1. Development of efficient soil technologies for judicious use of natural resources.
2. Sustaining soil health in the changing climate scenario.
3. Evaluation of new age fertilizers to increase fertilizer use efficiency.
4. Imparting training to youth to develop skill on various aspects of natural resource use and conservation for sustaining soil health and crop productivity.

Salient Achievements

1. Dr Shri Ram, Professor, Soil Science and his team was organized a Kisaan Gosthi on 19.05.2022 at 11.00 Am in the Conference Hall, College of Agriculture Under AICRP on Long Term Fertilizer Experiments. To promote balanced fertilizers application for crops by weaker section farmers, agricultural inputs viz; Rice seed, Urea, SSP, MOP and Zinc fertilizer were distributed to 24 Scheduled Cast marginalized farmers which were selected from Inderpur, Anandpur, anandpur/colony Cutting and Raghav Nagar villages of Udham Singh Nagar District. Farmers visited CRC, Mashroom Production centre and Long Term Fertilizer Experimental Site.

2. Dr. S. P. Pachauri, S.R.O., Dr. A.K. Tyagi, Assistant Professor Soil Science and their team of AICRP-MSPE organized a programme named ‘Kisan Bhagidari, Prathmikta Hamari’ campaign at Jeolikote on 26.4.2022 under 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav'. More than 116 farmers (including male and females) actively participated in this training programme.

3. Dr. S. P. Pachauri, S.R.O., Dr. A.K. Tyagi, Assistant Professor Soil Science and their team of AICRP-MSPE organized training for SC farmers at Harinagar village of Ramgarh block of Nainital district, Uttarakhand on 15.07.2022. Total sixty battery operated power sprayer machine were distributed among 60 SC farmers. Also, 5 kg zinc sulphate (33% Zn) and 1 kg boron fertilizers were distributed to each selected farmer and they were told about the use and maintenance of the machine.

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Faculty Awards/Honours

Student’s awards/achievement

Following students got placement in different organizations during the year 2022:

Mr. Suraj Malkani, Id. No. 45965, a Ph. D. scholar He has taken admission in University of Florida (Ph.D.) in Soil Water and Ecosystem Sciences. Fully Sponsored Ph. D. programme.

Mr. Akshay Shrivastava, Id. No. 57115, got First position in Poster Presentation in UCB sponsored National Conference on "Himalayan Cereals For Food and Nutritional Security" held on 6 Sept. 2022 at Dept of Biochemistry, CBSH, Pantnagar

Ms. Pooja Nain, Id. No. 46071, a Ph. D. scholar qualified UGC NET-2022 (Environmental Science)

Soil test-based fertilizer recommendations and site-specific nutrient management practices have been developed.

Development of consortia biofertilizer inoculant production technology of Rhizobium and PGPR

The Soil Testing Lab has analyzed more than 322 soil sample still date and provided recommendations to farmers to sustain the crop productivity and soil health. The soil health card also provided to the farmers of District Udham Singh Nagar, which proved very helpful in sustaining soil health and thereby increase in crop yield.

22 research papers and one book chapter have been published during 2022 in national and international journals of repute.

Organized World Soil Day- 2021 on 5th December 2022 by conducting three events viz a) Painting and Slogan competition for PG and PhD. Students, b) Quiz for under graduate studentsand c) Online Guest lecture by Dr. Amitva Rakshit, Associate Professor, Institute of Agriculture Sciences; BHU.

Presently, 10 All India Coordinated Research Projects and 01 Network project funded by ICAR,03 ad-hoc research projects and 05 bio-efficacy research projects are operating in the department. The list of ongoing research projects is as follows:

Text books:

1. Bioresources for Sustainable Plant Nutrient Management (2014) Eds by Ramesh Chandra and K.P. Raverkar. Satish Serial Publishing House, New Delhi.
2. Bioresources for Sustainable Plant Nutrient Management (2014) Eds. by Ramesh Chandra & K P Raverkar. Published by Satish Serial Publishing House, Delhi.
3. जैविक फसलोत्पादन तकनीकी(2010). Eds by D K Singh, K P Raverkar. Directorate of Experiment Station, G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technolgoy, Pantnagar, Udham Singh Nagar. Pp. 214
4. Fundamentals and Management of Soil Quality (2009) by R Chandra and S K Singh, Westville Publishing House, New Delhi
5. Fundamentals and Management of Soil Quality (2009) Eds. By Ramesh Chandra and S.K. Singh. Westville Publishing House, New Delhi

Lab manual:

Management on conservation and management of soil and water resources (2010) by S. Singh, S. K. Singh and H. N. Singh, G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar.

Practical manual ion soil and plant analysis (2011) by R. Singh, P. C. Srivastava and Veer Singh, G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar.

Technical Bulletin

Organic Farming: Status and Research Experiences at Pantnagar. DES Bulletin No. 184 (2012) by D. K. Singh, K. P. Raverkar, V. C. Dhyani, and S. Chaturvedi, Directorate of Experiment Station. G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, Uttarakhand, India.

Chickpea Research at Pantnagar, DES Tech. Bull. No. 183 (2012) by R. Chandra, R. Kumar, V. K. Singh, S. K. Verma, K. P. Kushwaha, N. Pareek, Chandra Bhushan, M. Agnihotri, and A. Arora, Directorate of Experiment Station, G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, Nainital, India.

मृदा परीक्षण के आधार पर उत्तराखंड़ एवं पश्चिमी उ0 प्र0 के फसलो की लक्षित उपज के लिये उर्वरको की गणना (2011) द्वारा सोबरन सिंह, पूनम गौतम एवं पूनम गंगोला, गो0 व0 पन्त कृषि एवं प्रौद्योगिक विश्वविद्यालय, पंतनगर

Agro-Technology for Enhancing Water and Crop Productivity of Rice, Wheat and Vegetable Pea in Uttarakhand (FPARP Bulletin NO. 01) (2011) by K. P. Raverkar, S. Chandara, N. Pareek, G. Singh, S. Chandra, D. Krishna, P. Sahai, P. and A. N. Shukla Directorate of Experiment Station. G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, Uttarakhand, India.

Ongoing Extension Activities:

Field demonstration on package technology pulses (Chickpea, urd and lentil)

Seminar/Workshop/Training/Symposium

Annual Convention of ISAC and National Symposium on Balanced Fertilizer to Sustainable Soil Health, Crop Production and Food Security, November 25-26, 2011

QRT meeting of AICR on STCR, LTFE, MSN and AINP-BNF, June 28-30, 2012

Annual Group Meet of AICRP on Chickpea from 1-3 September 2013

Fertilizer Orientation course of FAI, 29-30 April, 2015

All India Radio (AIR) Rampur, AIR Bareilly, AIR, Nazibabad telecast by ETV Uttar Pradesh/ Uttarakhand TV Channel through Local Newspapers including Amar Ujala, Dainik Jagran, Hindustan, Rashtriya Sahara & Uttar Ujala, Krishak Dunia weekly Patrika.Also through SMS etc. to the farmers of Western UP & Uttarakhand

The department apart from providing on farm and off farm trainings to the farmers, also extends serviceof Soil Testing to the farmers and other stakeholders. Soil testing trainings are imparted to state government soil testing staff and to farmers at village level. Front line demonstrations are being conducted by the faculty members at farmer’s fields for assessment, refinement and promotion/adoption of generated soil technologies on nutrient management, biofertilizers application, water management and compost production.The department also extends its services through delivery of invited lectures in other SAUs, state government training programmes, Kisan Gosthi organized by the University, state government and other agencies.

Prize distribution to the winners of the Poster & Slogan WritingCompetition held on the occasion of World Soil Day dated 5th December 2022