Department of Soil Science and
Agricultural Chemistry
      The Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry at College of Agriculture, Dharwad is one of the oldest major departments to start along with the establishment of the College itself in 1947, the year of Independent India. The department was headed by eminent personalities and teachers like Dr. A.S. Hadimani, Dr. P. A. Sarangamath, Dr. T. Sheshgirirao, Dr. T. Satyanarayana, Dr. G.S. Dasog, Dr. P. L. Patil, Dr. N.S. Hebsur who occupied the position of Dean (Agri / Home science / PGS). The eminent scientist Dr. P. L. Patil who occupied the position of Vice Chancellor of UAS Dharwad in 2022. Presently the Department is headed by Dr. V.B.Kuligod.
                The department has well equipped UG, PG and Research laboratories. Faculties in the department are handling research projects on natural resource management, remote sensing and GIS, soil fertility, management of problematic soils. Advanced and sophisticated equipments like ICP-OES, CHNS analyzer, AAS, Pressure plate and membrane apparatus, microwave digesters are available in the laboratories. The department also counsel the visiting farmers in areas of crop nutrition, fertilizer recommendation, soil fertility management, liming of acid soils, management of problematic soils and waters.
                  UG, PG and Doctoral students are being trained for competitive exams like JRF, SRF, NET and ARS conducted by ICAR, New Delhi and trainings on skill developments in soil testing and analysis methodologies were also organized to rural youths, farmers and staff from the State Department of Agriculture as and when required.
PG Programmes started in the Department
| 1 | M.Sc. in Soil Science | 1972-73 |
| 2 | Ph.D. Soil Science | 1975-76 |
PG Students admitted in last five years
| Sl. No. | Course No. | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 |
| 1 | M.Sc. (Agri.) | 10 | 14 | 9 | 9 | 7 |
| 2 | Ph.D. | 2 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
Faculty
| Sl No | Name | Designation | Specialization |
| 1 | Dr. V.B. Kuligod | Professor and Head | Natural Resource management, Remote sensing, GIS, Soil Fertility |
| 2 | Dr. Manjunatha Hebbara | Professor | Soil Salinity Management, Management of poor quality water, organic agriculture |
| 3 | Dr.B.R. Jagadeesh | Professor | Soil Science and Agril. Chemistry |
| 4 | Dr. S.S. Gundlur | Professor | Soil Physics, Soil fertility, Problematic soils and water mangement |
| 5 | Dr.G.R. Rajakumar | Assistant Professor | Soil fertility management |
Supporting Staff:
| Sl No | Name | Designation |
| 1 | Shri.R.F. Kalliyavar | Sr. Lab Assistant |
| 2 | Shri. T.F. Mulimani | Farm Labour |
| 3 | Shri. S.C. Asundimath | Kshemabhivruddhi Noukar |
B.Sc. Agriculture (Hons.) courses
| Sl. No. | Course No. | Course Title | Credits |
| 1 | SAC 101 | Fundamentals of Soil Science | 2+1 |
| 2 | SAC 202 | Problematic Soils and their Management | 1+1 |
| 3 | SAC 301 | Manures, Fertilizers and Soil Fertility Management | 2+1 |
| 4 | SAC 311 | Agrochemicals (Elective) | 1+1 |
B.Sc. Agriculture Business Management (Hons.) courses
| Sl. No. | Course No. | Course Title | Credits |
| 1 | SAC 102 | Soil and Water Management | 1+1 |
| 2 | SAC 301 | Manures, Fertilizers and Soil Fertility Management | 2+1 |
Experiential Learning Modules offered
| Sl. No. | Course No. | Course Title | Credits |
| 1 | AEL 404 | Soil, plant, water and manure testing | 0+10 |
M.Sc. Agriculture in Soil Science courses
| Sl. No. | Course No. | Course Title | Credits |
| 1 | SOIL 501 | Soil Physics | 2+1 |
| 2 | SOIL 502 | Soil Fertility and Fertilizer Use | 2+1 |
| 3 | SOIL 503 | Soil Chemistry | 2+1 |
| 4 | SOIL 504 | Soil Minerology, Genesis and Classification | 2+1 |
| 5 | SOIL 508 | Soil, Water and Air Pollution | 2+1 |
| 6 | SOIL 509 | Remote Sensing and GIS techniques for Soil and Crop Studies | 2+1 |
| 7 | SOIL 510 | Analytical Technique and Instrumental Methods in Soil and Plant Analysis | 0+2 |
| 8. | SOIL-511 | Management of problematic soils and water | 1+1 |
Ph.D. in Soil Science courses
| Sl. No. | Course No. | Course Title | Credits |
| 1 | SOIL 601 | Recent trends in Soil Physics | 2+0 |
| 2 | SOIL 602 | Modern Concept in Soil Fertility | 2+0 |
| 3 | SOIL 603 | Physical Chemistry of Soil | 2+0 |
| 4 | SOIL 604 | Soil Genesis and Micro morphology | 2+0 |
| 5 | SOIL 605 | Bio-Chemistry of Soil Organic matter | 2+0 |
| 6. | SOL-606 | Land use planning and watershed management | 2+0 |
On going Externally funded adhoc Projects:
| Sl No | Name of Adhoc Project | PI/Co-PI/Associate | Duration | Funding agency | Project Outlay | Objectives of Project | Expected Outcome |
| 1 | REWARD- Rejuvenating Watersheds for Agricultural Resilience through Innovative Development | 5 years | World Bank & Watershed Development Department, GoK | 2724.35 lakhs | To strengthen capacities National and State institutions to adopt improved watershed management for increasing farmers’ resilience and support value chains in selected watersheds. | Land parcel-wise soil fertility mapsLRI based crop specific nutrient recommendationLRI based crop suitability recommenda tion LRI based soil & water conservation planGrouping of soils into LMUs for watershed management | – |
| 2 | Watershed Development for Prevention of Drought | 3 Years 2021-2022 to 2023-24 | Watershed Development Department, GoK, Bengaluru | Rs. 368 lakhs | Characterize and classify the soils into units (series) based on their morphological, physical and chemical properties and map them on a standard scale. (1:790)Developing a database of soils at Plot/parcel level.Assessing the potentials and constraints of the soil.Evaluating the soils by various interpretative groupings.Suggesting land use strategies for enhancing agricultural production. | Land resource Atlases and soil suitability for major crops of 185 micro-watersheds will be prepared | – |
Major Projects completed (Last five years):
| Sl No | Name of Adhoc Project | PI/Co-PI/Associate | Duration | Funding agency | Project Outlay | Objectives of Project | *Major Outcome |
| 1 | Support for improved programme integration in rainfed areas ( Component-I) in Gadag and Koppal districts under KWDP-II( Sujala-III) programme | Dr.P.L.Patil (PI) Dr.Manjunath Hebbara, Dr.V.B. Kuligod, Dr.S.S. Gundlur, Dr. S T Hundekar | 2016 to 2019 | Karnataka watershed Development Dept.GoK, Bengaluru | 1200.00 Lakhs | 1.Characterization of Natural Resource base of the Micro-watersheds in Gadag ,Koppal and Vijayapur Districts 2. Hydrological assessment for basic parameter. 3. Intensive hydrological monitoring for groundwater management in selected micro watershed of each district. 4. Maintenance of Data through Portals as digital library enabling decision supporting system. 5. Facilitate community based micro watershed master planning with land use plan and groundwater management plan | |
| 2. | Reclamation of the Coastal Saline Soils of Karnataka: An Integrated Approach Towards Bio-saline Agriculture | Dr. V. B. Kuligod | 2017-18 to 2019-20 | Dept. of Agriculture, Govt. of Karnataka | Rs. 3.5 Lakhs | Characterization and mapping of salinity in coastal agricultural lands.Assessment of temporal and spatial variability of soil salinity by using geo-spatial techniques,Understanding pattern and spatial association of soil salinity with topography, landforms, geology and land use and land cover .Coastal saline land zonation for sustainable management  | Aghanasini estuary soil salinity maps were generated and characterized |
* Major outcome
a) LRI Activities accomplished
| Sl. No. | Activities Undertaken | Cumulative Achievement |
| 1. | No. of micro-watersheds- LRI completed | 633 |
| 2. | Area covered (in Lakh ha.) | 3.29 |
| 3. | Villages covered | 167 |
| 4. | Profile studied (15/MWS) | 5080 |
| 5. | Profile sample collected (25/MWS) | 15374 |
| 6. | Profile samples analyzed | 7320 |
| 7. | Fertility samples collected (50/MWS) | 34501 |
| 8. | Fertility samples analyzed | 34501 |
| 9. | Water samples collected (6/MWS) | 3779 |
| 10. | Water samples analyzed | 3779 |
| 11. | No. of soil maps generated (English) | 633 |
| 12. | No. of soil maps generated (Kannada) | 633 |
| 13. | No. of Atlases (MWS) submitted (English) | 633 |
| 14 | No. of Atlases (MWS) submitted (Kannada) | 633 |
| 15 | No. of Atlases (SWs) prepared (English) | 108 |
| 16 | No. of Atlases (SWs) prepared (Kannada) | 108 |
| 17 | No. of reports (MWS) submitted (English) | 633 |
| 18 | No. of reports (SWS) submitted (English) | 108 |
| 19 | No. of MWs LRI Cards Submitted | 584 |
| 20 | No. of Socio-economic reports submitted | 654 |
| 21 | No of hydrology atlases generated | 112 |
b) LRI cards generated and distributed
| Sl. No. | District Name | Taluk Name | No. of MW | No. of Villages | No. of LRI Cards given to districts |
| 1 | Gadag | Gadag | 224 | 81 | 25999 |
| 2 | Gadag | Mundargi | 12 | 5 | 947 |
| 3 | Gadag | Ron | 14 | 11 | 1339 |
| 4 | Koppal | Koppal | 16 | 10 | 1977 |
| 5 | Koppal | Yelburga | 21 | 28 | 3156 |
| 6 | Vijayapura | B.Bagewadi | 8 | 8 | 1248 |
| 7 | Vijayapura | Indi | 8 | 9 | 1349 |
| 8 | Vijayapura | Vijayapura | 281 | 94 | 44510 |
| Total | 584 | 246 | 80525 | ||
Technologies Developed:(Last Five Years)
| Sl. No. | Technology | Name of the Scientist |
| 1 | Revalidation of soil test based nutrients recommendation to major crops in agro climatic zones of Karnataka (Zone 1, 2 and 3) | Dr.V.B.Kuligod |
| 2 | Application of 4 kg/ac FeSO4 and ZnSO4 under dry land cultivation and 10 kg/ac FeSO4 and ZnSO4 under irrigation to all the crops | Dr.V.B.Kuligod |
| 3 | Fertilizer requirement for Irrigated Wheat | Dr. S. S. Gundlur |
Awards/Recognitions
| Sl. No. | Name | Institute | Award | Year |
| 1 | Dr.G.S. Dasog | Indian Society of Soil Science | ISSS Fellow | 2010 |
| 2 | Dr. P.L.Patil | Indian Society of Soil Science | ISSS Fellow | 2019 |
| 3 | Dr.P.L.Patil, Dr. Majunatha Hebbara, Dr.V.B. Kuligod, Dr.S.S. Gundlur, Dr. S.T. Hundekar | UAS,Dharwad | Incentive Award for the year 2019-20 | 2019-20 |
| 4 | Dr. Manjunatha Hebbara | ICAR- Indian Institute of Farming Systems Research, Modipuram, Meerut | National Team Award. | 2021-22 |
| 5 | Dr. B.R. Jagadeesha | Bharatiya Dalit Sahitya Academy New Delhi | National Fellow | 2019 |
| 6 | Dr. B.R. Jagadeesha | ICAR- IGFRI, Srinagar, J&K | Distinguished Scientist 2022 | 2022 |
| 7 | Dr. V.B. Kuligod | Dr. S. V. Patil Chair for Research, Training and Farmers’ welfare, UAS, Dharwad | Best Research Award | 2022-23 |