1. LATERITE SOILS IN INDIA
COURSE: Fundamentals of soil science DAgri.05 (1+1)

2. Soil
Laterite soil
Formation of laterite soil
Characteristic of laterate soils
Types of laterite soil
Distribution of laterate soil in india
Distribution of laterate soil in kerala
Crops suited lateritic soils
Chemical composition of laterite soils
Advantages
Disadvantages
PRESENTED BY :
• Sheetal P Chandran
• Aliya Ali
• Bijil S
• Nithin JS
IAT PATTAMBI
CONTENTS

3. SOIL
Buckman and Brady (1969): Soil is a dynamic
natural body on the surface of the earth. in which
plants grow, composed of mineral and organic
materials and living forms
MAJOR SOIL GROUPS ARE:
• Alluvial Soil
• Black Cotton Soil
• Red Soil
• Laterite Soil
• Mountainous or Forest Soils
• Arid or Desert Soil,

4. LATERITE SOIL
• Laterite is both a soil and a rock type
rich in iron and aluminum and is
commonly considered to have
formed in hot and wet tropical area
• The term laterite is coined by Francis
Buchanan-Hamilton in 1807
• Laterite has been derived from the
Latin word 'later' which means
brick/brick stone
• Laterite is the most common soil of
monsoon climatic region or clearly it
is the soil of the region having
alternate wet and dry season

5. FORMATION
OF LATERITE SOIL

6. CHARACTERISTIC OF LATERATE
SOILS
 These are shallow, acidic and less fertile soils.
 These soils are poor in lime but rich in iron.
 So these are suitable for plantation of crops like tea, rubber, coffee etc.
 Since low fertility because of high acidity and low moisture retention,
manuring and other activities are required to make them
suitable forgrowing crops such as rice and sugarcane.
 It is also suitable for building purpose.
 red due to the presence of iron oxide which is formed by leaching. The
soluble plant foods like potash are removed from the top soil leaving
alumina and iron oxide.
 a porous soil, silica is removed from it by chemical action. Is poor in lime
and magnesium, and deficient in nitrogen.

7. CHARACTERISTIC OF LATERATE
SOILS
q Laterite soil is formed by weathering of lateritic
rocks, lowtemperature and heavy rainfall with alternating dry and
wet periods.
q The soils are acidic in nature, coarser and crumbly in texture.
q Humus content of the soil is low because most of the micro
organisms, particularly the decomposer like bacteria, get destroyed
due to high temperature
q The subsoil layers of the laterite soil are often very strongly acid (pH
4.5 and less) resulting in solubilisation of exchangeable Al and
deficiency of Ca and Mg

8. TYPES OF
LATERITE SOIL
Upland Laterites:- are formed over
hills and uplands.
Lowland Laterites:- From upland
laterite they were transported by
steams towards lowlands. Such
transported soils are known as
Lowland Laterites.

9. DISTRIBUTION OF
LATERATE SOIL IN INDIA
• In India, laterite soil is
widespread, covering over 10%
of the total geographical area,
namely on the summits of the
Western Ghats, Eastern Ghats
(Rajamahal Hills, Vindhyas,
Satpuras, and Malwa Plateau),
southern parts of Maharashtra,
parts of Karnataka, Andhra
Pradesh, West Bengal Orissa,
Jharkhand, Kerala, Assam, and
Meghalaya
• These soils have mainly
developed in the higher areas of
the Peninsular plateau

10. DISTRIBUTION OF LATERATE
SOIL IN KERALA
• laterite soil is one of the most common soil in
Kerala
• It is mainly found in the midland regions and
highlands of Kerala. Its occurrence extends to
Alappuzha, kollam, Thiruvananthapuram,
Kottayam, Thissur, kannur

11. CROPS SUITED
LATERITIC SOILS
• Laterite soils lack fertility due to intensive
leaching.
• When manured and irrigated, some
laterites are suitable for growing plantation
crops like tea, coffee, rubber, cinchona,
coconut, arecanut, etc.
• In some areas, these soils supportgrazing
grounds scrub forests.
• Red laterite soils in Tamil Nadu, Andhra
Pradesh and Kerala are more suitable for
tree crops like cashewnut. These soils are
also suitable for tea plantations

12. CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF
LATERITE SOILS
• Laterite soils are rich in bauxite or ferric
oxides.
• They are very poor in lime, magnesia,
potash and nitrogen.
• Sometimes, the phosphate content may be
high in the form of iron phosphate
• In wetter places, there may be
higher content of humus.

13. ADVANTAGES
They are are light and porous, and useful in growth of tea coffee cashews etc.
They have high clay content, hence better water holding capacity.
They are red in colour due to the presence of large amounts of iron oxide .
Used for construction purposes
Laterites are the source of many ore

14. DISADVANTAGES
These Soils are formed by leaching , therefore
consists of less minerals and organic materials .
They are acidic in nature.
They are very poor fertile .
They have high clay content and lower cation
exchange capacity.