The soils of Sri Lanka

Abstract

The documented evidence shows that the soils of Sri Lanka were first studied according to crops grown as tea, coffee, cinnamon, rice, and forest soils as early as 1886. The first agricultural experiment in the world according to the factorial design was established in 1929 by Eden (Eden 1929) at St. Coomb's estateSt. Coomb's estateof the Tea Research InstituteTea research instituteof Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) where three levels each of N, P, and K were used. Soil studies initiated with classification and mapping, shifted to soil fertility and rice soils and to irrigated agriculture with settlement schemes in the Dry zoneDry zone. Soils were first classified and mapped according to the parent material and then shifted to soil morphologySoil morphologyusing soil profileSoil profileand characters of each horizon. Subsequently, soils were classified and mapped according to Great Soil GroupsGreat soil groupsusing similarity of relative sequence of soil horizons. The most recent soil mapsSoil mapshow the Soil Taxonomic equivalents and WRB-FAOWRB-FAO legendlegend with soil seriesSoil series. Due to climatic and topographic variations as well as biodiversityBio-diversity, six of the twelve Soil Taxonomic orders are found in Sri Lanka. Soil AssociationsSoil associationsand Soil ComplexesSoil complexesare used as mapping unitsSoil mapping unitsas soils vary along the catenaCatenadue to topographic factors.