2.  About Department

• The present Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry is an outcome of a steady metamorphosis from an old and rich heritage of the past and has made excellent contribution in the domain of soil and plant research.

• The research component of the Department is one of the oldest one in the country starting way back in the year 1883 when the first permanent manurial cum fertilizer experiments were initiated at Kanpur to compare relative efficacy of organic manures vis a vis inorganic fertilizers on maize and wheat crops.

• J.W. Leather was appointed as the first Imperial Agricultural Chemist in 1886. this post was later re-designated as Agricultural Chemist to Govt. of U.P. and a galaxy of  luminaries like Dr. G. Clarke, Dr. H.N. Batham, Dr. B.K. Mukherji,  Dr. B.N. Pramanik, Dr. N.K. Das, Dr. R.R. Agarwal and Dr. C.L. Mehrotra occupied the coveted chair.

• Other Scientists making excellent contributions in soil and plant research of the Department during the yore years include Dr. B.N.P. Ghildayal, Padam shri Dr. J.S.P. Yadav, Dr. A.N. Pathak, Dr. R.N. Gupta, Dr. K.N. Tiwari & Dr.R.M. Upadhyay.

• Teaching of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry at graduate level in Govt. Agricultural College, Kanpur came into its being in 1930 followed by Postgraduate classes and Ph.D degree research in 1944 under the stewardship of the eminent scientist Professor Dr. J.G. Shri Khande in 1944 succeeded by his illustrious student Dr. A.N. Pathak in 1958. Dr. A.N. Pathak succeeded him to occupy the position till 1987. thereafter, Dr. Hari Shanker, Dr. Kalian Singh, K.N. Tiwari, Dr. P. Shukla, Dr. R.K. Pathak, Dr. M.M. Agarwal and Dr. B.R. Gupta, Dr. K. N. Dwivedi, Dr. C.P.Sharma, Dr. Samir Pal, Dr. D. D. Tiwari & presently Prof.. R.C. Nigam steered the teaching, research and extension activities of the Department as Professor and Head of the Department.

• The research and teaching components functioning as independent units were merged into one Division with the upgradation of Govt. Agricultural College, Kanpur as U.P. Institute of Agricultural Science Kanpur, which was subsequently elevated to the status of an independent University in 1975 as C.S.Azad University of Agriculture & Technology, Kanpur and the erstwhile Division of Soils & Agril. Chemistry in the Institute was rechristened as Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry now in vogue.

2.  Information of Officer

3- Organogram of Department (Officer and Employee)

1. Teaching Unit
2. Soil Testing Unit
3. Fertilizer and Pesticide Quality Testing
4. Soil Microbiology Unit
5. Soil Fertility
6. Pesticide Residues Scheme.
7. Soil Salinity Scheme

4- Deiails of progrmmes/Services/Schemes run by the department:

Soil Testing:

Soil samples received from farmers and other related agencies, test for plant nutrients like available NPKS , DTPA extractable  Zn, Fe, Mn, Cu and pH, EC etc.The test is carried out on payment basis. Fertilizer Recommendation are formulated on soil test basis for various crops.

Soil samples received on following format:

• Name of the farmer
• Village
• Block
• Name of the field /Khasara No.
• Source of irrigation
• Crop taken
• Fertilizer used (i) Chemical  fertilizer (ii) Organic manure
• Crop grown
• Size of holding in hectare
• Signature and mobile No. of the farmer

Contact person :  Prof. R.C. Nigam, HOD, Sri K.N. Singh,Asstt. Prof.  and Sri Yogesh Mishra

Soil Microbiology:

Isolation and Purification of microbial strains/culture. Production of Rhizobium Azotobactor biofertilizer. The Rhizobium and Azotobactor biofertilizer produced on demand for farmers as well as Govt. and private agencies . The rate of biofertilizer is Rs.20/- per  packet (200gms).

Contact Person: Dr. R.N. Dixit, Asstt. Prof.

Fertilizer and Pesticide Quality Testing:

Pesticide and fertilizer samples are tested by the deptt. with the objective to provide standard input ( Fertilizer and & Pesticide ) to the farmers.Test carried out on payment  basis ( testing fees) which are deposited in the university account. This raboratory is first quality control laboratory of the State of U.P.

Contact person: Dr. S.B. Pandey, Asstt. Professor.

Pesticide Residues:

The field experiments conducted on various crops with different new  and old molecule of insecticide. Samples collected at different intervals and also at harvest to generate pesticide residues data for calculating RL₅₀, MRL ( Maximum residues limit and waiting period at national level . The research work in this project is carried out on the bais of mandate aloted by AINPon pesticide residues ICAR .

Contact Person: Prof. R.C. Nigam, HOD & Residue analysit and Dr. R.K. Pandey, Asstt. Residue                     Analysit.

Soil Salanity:

Sodic soil reclaimation, ground and cannal water quality testing and develop different technolgy for harvesting maximum yield from sodic land. This project is sponsored by ICAR and mostly research work carried out on the basis of work aloted by the Project Coordinator.

Contact person:       Dr. Ravindra Kumar, Professor and PI, Dr.Devendra Singh, Asstt. Prof.,

Dr. S.N. Pandey,Asstt. Prof. and Sri Vinod Kumar, Asstt. Professor.

5- Success Stories:

1-  Fertilizer recommendation are made for various crops on soil test basis.

2-  Developed Integrated nutrient management packages for Rice-wheat cropping sequence .

3-  Rationalizes potassium doses for oilseed ( Mustard, linseed, grounnut  and Til ) pulses ( Pea, Chickpea, Urd and Moong)and vegetable (cabbage, couliflower, Brinjal and ladies finger. The doses for above on medium K sori is 60 kgK₂O ha^-1

4-  Developed integrated management packages for sodic soil reclaimaion.Tested phosphogypsum as alternative source of Gypsym for sodic soil reclaimation.

5-  Prepared vermicompost with the use of Gajar Ghas and this process help to eradicate Gazar Ghas and obtained nutrient rich vermicompost incomparision to vermicompost prepared from other weed and farm straw.

6-  Under AICRP on Micro secondary and pollutant elements in soil plant and water. GPS based surface soil samples from 15 district of the state (0-15cm) has been collected and analysed for micro and secondary nutrients.

Results reavealed that on an average 45%, 40% 12%samples found deficient with Zn , sulphur and boron respectively. Fe, Mn and Cu deficiency ranged from 3-4 % and this is alarming situation for these micronutrients.

7-   The detail results are communicated to project co-ordinator AICRP (M.NS.) Indian Institute of soil science Bhopal ( M.P.) for preparing soil fertility map.

8-  Pesticidal Residues data communicated to Project Coordinator AINP , IARI, New Delhi for fixing MRL, RL₅₀ and waiting period at National level.

9-  Experiment on breaking yield stagnation on Rice-wheat cropping sequence is conducted and       result of the experiment revealed that exclusion of P from the fertilizer sheduling  significantly reduced more yield of rice and wheat both than K, S, Zn and boron.

Zinc should be applied after two years in same field