A Soil Investigation with Reference to Distriubution of Sal and Teak in Madhya Pradesh

An investigation conducted in 1962 to study the edaphic factors with reference to the distribution of sal and teak in Madhya Pradesh is reported. Certain physical and chemical properties of soil did not show any marked difference which could be attributed for the differential distribution of the two species. On the whole, the soils under teak have higher exchangeable calcium than those under sal, while the coarse-textured shallow soil possessing the lowest amount of exchangeable calcium and moisture status is occupied by the miscellaneous species. The data suggest that the general occurrence of teak in the south-west region is helped by higher exchangeable calcium under drier conditions apart from the greater tolerance of teak for such conditions. The exchangeable calcium of the soil thus appears to be an important factor in favouring predominance of this species. In view of the present limited data the study needs to be extended to other areas as well for confirming the observations reported here, which are, to all intents and purposes, preliminary and tentative.