The Department starts its journey in the year 1964 with Prof. Asit Kr. Mukhopadhyay, the only teacher and five M. Sc. (Ag.) students under the University of Kalyani. Butit was enriched with the joining of Prof. S. C. Das, Prof. N. A. Chowdhury, Prof. B. Ghosh, Prof. L. N. Mandal and Prof. N. C. Debnathwithin a lapse of few years. The department took its shape with the birth of Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya on 1st September 1974 after bifurcation of the University of Kalyani. The department starts functioning under first State Agricultural University with an intake capacity of 8 post-graduate students which now become 24. The department flourished in length and breadth within a span of few years after receiving a good number of All India Coordinated Research Projects related to this subject. During 1990, the department along with the others shifted to Mohanpur campus under Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya. While the teaching strength of the department at mid-90’scrossed the mark of 40, it shrank to around 25 with thecreation of two new departments, namely “Agricultural Biochemistry” and “Agricultural Chemicals”.It is proposed that the mother department to berenamed as“Department of Soil Science” giving due honour to the recommendation of the Vth Dean’s Committee, ICAR.To improve teaching quality on the aspect of “Soil Genesis, Soil Survey and Land use Planning”, the department signs a bilateral agreement with “National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning (NBSS & LUP), Regional Centre, Kolkata, an ICAR organization. The collaboration is still going on and the scientists of NBSS & LUP are still sharing their expertise in teaching in this specialized branch of Soil Science to the Post-Graduate students of the departmentforthelast20years.
The department always remains endowed with versatile, knowledgeable and distinguished teachers who display their excellence and experiences not only through world-class teaching but also through innovative research skill. The research findings have beenpublished in the peer reviewed journals of National and International repute. A large number of teachers of the department had contributed their experiences through publication of text books/ book chapter in theirrespective fieldsby National and International publishers. The teachers of the department time to time organized short term training programmes, symposia/conference, summer/winter schools and workshops. Some of them are recognized nationally for their academic excellence asthe fellow of different professional societies and National Academics.
Apart from academic activities, teachers of the department also shouldered the responsibilities of different administrative positions fromthe Dean of Faculty, Director of Research to Vice-Chancellor of this University.Teachers of the department have been handling different Adhoc Research projects, NATP, NAIP funded by ICAR, RKVY, Govt. of India, CSIR, Govt. of India, BRNS project funded by DAE, Govt. of India, Govt. of West Bengal and different NGOs. The department has prepared micronutrient deficiency maps of West Bengal. A new soil testing kit has been developed by the department. The department has been working on heavy metal pollution and its management, transformations of different macro and micro nutrients under different agro-climatic zones and management practices. A lot of research works had been carried out in the fields of Soil Physics and Soil Microbiology.
Till date more than 470 post-graduate students have earned their M.Sc. (Ag.) degrees and more than 160 research scholars had obtained their Ph.D. degree from this department. After passing out from this department, many M. Sc. (Ag.) and Ph. D students have pursued their Doctoral and Post-Doctoral research works, respectively in foreign countries. The under-graduate students with specialization in the field of Soil Science have beenperforming well in ICAR Junior Fellowship examination. The Post-Graduate students of this department have been doing well in ICAR Senior Fellowship and NET Examinations and ranking within 1 to 10 in all India basis. More than 24 students had qualified for ARS from this department. The passing out students of the department are serving in banks, Agricultural Universities as Assistant Professor and performing well in IFS, IAS, IPS, UPSC, WBCS, ISROand different Private sectors. Alumni of the department are well placed in different State and Central Govt. organizations and are holding the posts of Director in different National bodies or even the Vice-Chancellor of some Agricultural Universities.
Vision & Mission
The Department of Agricultural Chemistry and Soil Science, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya has occupied a unique position among the State Agricultural Universities in the country through its excellent teaching and research activities recognized nationally and internationally. Therefore, the first and foremost vision of the Department is to maintain that legacy through improved teaching and excellent research works reflected through publications in high impact-value journals.With this vision, the Department takes a constant initiative to formulate strategies for maintaining the health of this precious natural resource, soil. The Department has come out with farmers' need-based, zone-specific customized research outcomes that helpedthisState as well as our country to give a right direction for sustaining crop productivity as well as the quality of food and water.
To achieve this mission the Department has planned to prepare Atlas on the available nutrient status of the soils of different districts of West Bengal. The Department has been suggesting the various strategies to the State Government that are ultimately disseminated to the farmers aiming to increase the nutrient use efficiency and the soil productivity.