Detailed morphological, physical, chemical, mineralogical and micromorphological studies were carried out to identify properties that in¯uence the yield of deep-rooted crops in 29 Vertisols of semiarid central India, since existing land evaluation methods are not adequate to explain the yield of cotton obtained by farmers. The studies indicated that among the soil parameters, CaCO 3 in the clay fraction, the exchangeable Ca/Mg ratio, exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP) and saturated hydraulic conductivity (HC) were the yield-in¯uencing factors. The pedogenetic relationships between the semiarid climate, formation of pedogenic calcium carbonate, exchangeable Ca/Mg, ESP and HC have been established. In view of the pedogenetic processes that ultimately impair the drainage of soils, evaluation of Vertisols for deep-rooted crops on the basis of HC alone may help in planning and management of soils, not only in the Indian semiarid tropics, but also in similar climatic areas elsewhere.