Question

Give reasons for the following.

It is necessary to plough black soil soon after the first rain.

Answer 1

1. Black soil is very clayey and becomes sticky when wet, so it must be tilled soon after the first rain before it turns excessively sticky and hard to plough.
2. The first rain softens the otherwise hard dry soil, making it workable for breaking clods and preparing a proper seedbed.
3. Black soil is moisture‑retentive; ploughing early helps incorporate that moisture into the seedbed so crops (especially rain‑fed ones) can use it.
4. If ploughing is delayed, further wetting increases stickiness and makes tillage inefficient or impossible with normal implements.
5. If left unworked until later, the soil may dry, shrink and form deep cracks that damage the surface structure and reduce effective seed‑soil contact; early ploughing avoids these problems.