The department got its initiation along with the start of the then Assam Agriculture College at Jorhat in the year 1948. The mandate of the department was initially teaching only. The post-graduate teaching programme was started in 1965 and the Ph.D. degree programme was started in 1985. With the establishment of the Assam Agricultural University in 1969, the mandate of the department was broadened to include research and extension activities in the state of Assam. Over the long span of activities, the department has added a number of feathers to its cap in the form of creating human resources both at Masters and Doctorate level. The department has so far produced 242 and 49 number of M.Sc. (Agri) and Ph.D. holders since the start of the respective programmes. The department has produced a number of holders of reputed scholarships at national and international level. The department is recognized as a centre of excellence in organic agriculture in the country.
Thrust areas of the discipline
Short term :
INMS : To make uses of INM packages for popularization amongst farmers of Assam
Bio-fertilizer : Demonstration of bio-fertilizer production technology and entrepreneurship development.
LUP : Assessment of land degradation pattern under various geomorphic situations in the state.
Acid soil management : Development of cost effective package for acid soil management in pulse, oilseed and vegetable production systems.
Long term :
Organic farming :
Development of cost effective organic farming packages for production of some high value crops.
Land use planning :
Block wise integrated land use planning for different agro-climatic zones of Assam.
Improvement of degraded land through integration of inputs.
Natural Resource Management :
Development of In situ soil and moisture conservation measures on mini watershed basis.
Generation of appropriate reclamation/improvement measures for location specific degraded land to arrest further deterioration and to restore the productivity.
Establishment of a Data Bank of Natural Resources under NRDMS (Natural Resources Data Management System) for developing a Decision Support System (DSS) on GIS platform .
Updating of data bank for NRDMS.
Assessment of adoptability of existing practices for maintaining soil quality and productivity and evaluation of new management strategies.
Bio-fertilizer : Large scale production of bio-fertilizer for easy access and use
Soil fertility Improvement:
Improvement of technology pertaining to fertilizer use efficiency.
Nutrient optimization for rice based cropping systems for sustained production
Development of alternate sustainable production system for easy choice and adoption.
The department boasts of a number of externally funded high quality research projects many of which have been concluded and a number of them are in operation. The Department is the nodal agency in implementing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the University and the North East Space Application Centre (NESAC), Shillong.
The department has a number of high end analytical instruments such as ICP-AES, AAS, etc. besides others.
The department is regarded as the frontal centre in organic farming in the country and operated a Niche Area of Excellence in organic agriculture and currently operating a Centre for Advanced Faculty Training in organic agriculture.
The department has strong, dedicated team of faculty members in all the 5 major areas.
| UG Courses | ||||
| # | Course No. | Course Title | Course Credit | Syllabus |
| 1 | AS (EVS) 121 * | Environmental science and agro-ecology | 1(1 + 0) | |
| 2 | AS (Soil) 123 * | Fundamentals of soil science | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 3 | AS (Soil) 323 * | Soil fertility and nutrient management | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 4 | NRM (Soil) 112 * | Fundamentals of Soil Science | 2(1 + 1) | |
| 5 | NRM (Soil) 122 * | Soil fertility and nutrient management | 2(1 + 1) | |
| 6 | NRM (Soil) 123 * | Environmental studies and disaster management | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 7 | NRM (Soil) 212 * | Soil, water and plant analysis | 2(1 + 1) | |
| 8 | NRM (Soil) 323 * | Organic farming | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 9 | Soil 113 * | Fundamentals of Soil Science | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 10 | Soil 122 * | Agricultural Microbiology | 2(1 + 1) | |
| 11 | Soil 223 * | Manures, fertilizers and soil fertility management | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 12 | Soil 322 * | Problematic soils and their management | 2(2 + 0) | * courses are compulsory |
| Masters Courses | ||||
| # | Course No. | Course Title | Course Credit | Syllabus |
| 1 | Soil 501 * | Soil Physics | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 2 | Soil 502 * | SOIL FERTILITY AND FERTILIZER USE | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 3 | Soil 503 * | Sol Chemistry | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 4 | Soil 504 * | SOIL MINERALOGY, GENESIS, CLASSIFICATION AND SURVEY | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 5 | Soil 505 | SOIL EROSION AND CONSERVATION | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 6 | Soil 506 * | SOIL BIOLOGY AND BIOCHEMISTRY | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 7 | Soil 507 | RADIOISOTOPES IN SOIL AND PLANT STUDIES | 2(1 + 1) | |