Practice question

Black cotton soil locally called regur or black soil is vertisol formed by weathering of Deccan trap basalt, rich in montmorillonite clay imparting high swelling shrinkage and high water retention capacity. Found extensively in Deccan Peninsula of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, and extends into semi-arid zone due to similar parent material and semi-arid climate fostering basalt weathering. Soil deep, fine textured, high cation exchange capacity, calcium rich but nitrogen poor. Suitable for cotton, sorghum, pulses, typical of semi-arid plateau regions. Remembering this distinction is crucial for solving taxonomy application questions in GATE and CSIR-NET life sciences papers.