Research Team

Case Study Area

Model Evaluation Work

Related Publications

Research Team

The Indian case study is being coordinated by The National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning (NBSS&LUP) through their Head Quarters in Nagpur, with research teams from NBSS&LUP New Delhi and Calcutta also taking part. NBSS&LUP are part of the Indian Council for Agricultural Research. The case study is being coordinated by Dr D.K. Pal, as the Principal investigator and Dr K.S. Gajbhiye as The Director of NBSS&LUP. Dr T. Bhattacharyya, a Senior Research Scientist at NBSS&LUP Nagpur is working on the case study as a project associate. 

Case Study Area

The case study is focusing on the Indian part of the Indo-gangetic plains (21°45 to 31°0 N lat. and 74°15 to 91°30 E long.), which cover an area of ~650,000 km², roughly 21% of the total area of India.  The indo gangetic plains are home to 40% of India's population, being comprised of the states of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh (UP), Bihar and West Bengal.

Terrain Although the area is predominantly a flat alluvial plain, there is a general slope is from west to east, with elevation ranging from 200 m above sea level in the west to 0 m above sea level in the east. The Indogangetic plains were formed from silt, brought by rivers emerging from The Himalayas (Abrol 2002).

Climate Rainfall ranges from 300 - 1600 mm yr-1, with rainfall increasing from west to east. Moisture regimes in the region can be split into 5 categories; arid, semi-arid, dry sub-humid, moist sub-humid and humid (Abrol 2002). 

Soils Entisols, Inceptisols, Alfisols

Crops The area is overwhelmingly agricultural, being dominated by a rice-wheat cropping system. 

Model Evaluation Work

Several long-term fertiliser trials have been carried out in the Indogangetic Plains. This data is being collated and will be used for model evaluation work by the Indian case study. 

Related Publications

Bhattacharyya, T., Pal, D.K., Easter, M., Williams, S.,  Paustian, K., Milne, E., Chandran, P., Ray, S.K., Mandal, C., Coleman, K., Falloon, P., Powlson, D.S., Gajbhiye, K.S., 2007. ‘Evaluating the Century C model using long-term fertilizer trials in the Indo-Gangetic Plains, India’ In: Milne, E., Powlson, D.S., Cerri, C.E.P. (Eds.), Soil carbon stocks at regional scales. Agric. Ecosyst. Environ., (available on-line).

Bhattacharyya, T., Pal, D.K., Easter, M., Batjes, N.H., Milne, E., Gajbhiye, K.S., Chandran, P., Ray, S.K., Mandal, C., Paustian, K., Williams, S., Killian, K., Coleman, K., Falloon, P., Powlson, D.S., 2007. ‘Modelled soil organic carbon stocks and changes in the Indo-Gangetic Plains, India from 1980 to 2030’. In: Milne, E., Powlson, D.S., Cerri, C.E.P. (Eds.), Soil carbon stocks at regional scales. Agric. Ecosyst. Environ., (available on-line).

Bhattacharyya, T., and Pal, D.K. (2003). Carbon sequestration in soils of the Indo-Gangetic Plains. In: RWC-CIMMYT. Addressing Resource Conservation Issues in Rice-Wheat Systems of South Asia .  A Resource Book.  Rice Wheat Consortium for Indo-Gangetic Plains. International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre, New Delhi , India pp. 68-71.

Bhattacharyya, T. and Pal, D.K. (2003). Role of soil colloids in carbon accumulation in soils : a view. Rice-Wheat Information Sheet. 47:6.

Bhattacharyya, T., Ray, S.K., Sahoo, A.K, Durge, S.L., Chandran, P., Sarkar, D. and Pal, D.K. (2004) Pan formation in soils under paddy-potato/mustard-paddy system in Indo-Gangetic Plains, West Bengal (in press)