scholarly journals Soil Quality Indicators as an Assessment Tool to Maximize the Productivity of Pulse Crops

Author(s):  
B. Bhakiyathu Saliha ◽  
R. Indrani ◽  
C. Priyanka

The present research investigation was taken up  during 2017-2019 to evaluate the properties and fertility status of soils through physical, chemical and biological indicators of soil quality in the major pulse growing regions which were classified into three categories viz., low yielding (< 400kg ha-1), medium (400 to 700 kg ha-1) and high yielding (> 700 kg ha-1). 300 samples collected from these zones were subjected to analysis and weight ages were assigned to each soil quality attribute through Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and those that explain at least 5% of the variation in the data were examined by using SPSS software. The mean percentage of water stable aggregates was the highest (51%) in high yielding soils which can be attributed to the beneficial effect of organic manure application and balanced fertilizer usage. Most of the samples in the high yielding soils were neutral to slightly alkaline (pH of 7.20 to 7.85), while that of medium and low yielding soils were  moderately alkaline and neutral to slightly alkaline respectively. However low yield category had an average cation exchange capacity of 12.2 c mol (p+) kg-1, whereas that of medium and high yield  categories recorded 21.8 and 36.9 c mol (p+) kg-1 respectively. The soils of high, medium and low yield zones recorded 282,234 and 138 kg ha-1 of available nitrogen respectively. The sulphur status in pulse growing soils revealed deficiency in 88 percent of the samples from low yielding zones which needs due attention. The overall results of the study concluded that the higher values of soil attributes such as aggregate stability, cation exchange capacity, organic carbon, available nitrogen, available potassium and extractable micronutrients corresponded well with the high yield category indicating the importance of these soil quality indicators for improving the pulse productivity in low yield zones.

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 368-374
Author(s):  
A. BASUMATARY ◽  

Two hundred fifty geo-referenced surfaces (0-15 cm) soil samples were collected and analysed for macronutrients and micronutrients to study fertility status in soils of Dima Hasao district of Assam and their relationship with some important soil properties. Soils of the district were found to be extremely acidic to slightly acidic in reaction with a low to high organic carbon content and low in cation exchange capacity. The soil of the district indicated that the available nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium status was observed to the tune of 14.0 %,7.2% and 67.2% under low and 86.0 %, 92.8 % and 32.8 %under medium categories, respectively. The overall percent deficient of exchangeable calcium, magnesium and available sulphur in soils was 25.6, 30.4 and 6.8 %, respectively. Based on critical limit, all soils were adequately supplied with DTPA-extractable Fe, Mn and Cu content. In respect of zinc and boron, soils exhibited 90.4 and 73 per cent under sufficient, while, 2.4 and 12 per cent were found deficient in DTPA -Zn and HWS-B, respectively. Soil pH and EC showed positive correlation with macro nutrients and negative correlation with micronutrients. The macro- and micronutrient showed significant positive relation with soil organic carbon and cation exchange capacity.


2016 ◽  
Vol 51 (9) ◽  
pp. 1643-1651 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diane Cristina Stefanoski ◽  
Cícero Célio de Figueiredo ◽  
Glenio Guimarães Santos ◽  
Robélio Leandro Marchão

Abstract The objective of this work was to assess soil quality indicators obtained with different datasets to compare soil management systems in the Brazilian Cerrado. Three criteria were used to select soil physical, chemical, and biological indicators: the full set of indicators obtained, with 36 parameters, for which all the physical, chemical, and biological soil properties were determined; a subset of indicators selected by principal component analysis (20 parameters); and a subset of indicators with some frequency of use in the literature (16 parameters). These indicators were obtained from the following management systems: no-tillage, conventional tillage, and native cerrado vegetation. Soil samples were collected at 0.0-0.1-m soil depth, and soil quality indicators were subjected to analysis of variance and their means were compared. The incorporation of soil native cerrado into agriculture decreased soil quality. The most commonly used indicators in the scientific literature are sensitive enough to detect differences in soil quality according to land use. Therefore, the selection of a minimum set of representative data can be more useful than a complex set of properties to compare management systems as to their soil quality.


2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-53
Author(s):  
Kathleen Cedeño

Soil quality is crucial to global food production security. However, research data on soil quality, which is vital to enhancing soil fertility and crop yield, is limited particularly on the soil in the rice fields located in Langkong, Mlang, Cotabato. This study aims to assess the soil quality of one of the organic rice farms in said area. Soil samples were collected in thirty-one (31) paddies for two sampling periods: thirty (30) days after harvest and thirty (30) days after rice transplanting. Eight (8) soil indicators representing soil physicochemical characteristics were measured from 0-15 cm depth; the indicators were soil texture, water holding capacity, pH, exchangeable phosphorus, extractable potassium, total organic matter, electrical conductivity, and cation exchange capacity. Results reveal that soils in the studied area are characterized by clay loam with moderate water-holding capacity of about 62.57% and 60.57% for both sampling periods, respectively. The soil is strongly acidic (5.3 and 5.5) and has a low amount of organic matter (2.16% and 1.57%) and exchangeable P (8.55 ppm and 2.48 ppm), although it has marginal extractable K (80.77 ppm and 91.10 ppm). Also, the soils are non-saline and have low cation exchange capacity. The findings signify that the soils have insufficient fertility to sustain the optimal growth of the rice plants which can potentially reduce the yield of rice production. Thus, amendment of the soil quality and enhancement of soil management practices should be taken into consideration to further improve soil fertility to ensure productivity and profitability of farmers.


Author(s):  
Prashant Joshi ◽  
Dhiraj Kadam ◽  
Shakti Tayde ◽  
Yogesh Dharmik

The present investigation was carried out to characterize and classify some typical healthy and declined Nagpur mandarin gardens in Warud and Morshi Tahsil’s of Amravati District (M.S.). Total forty two representative surface and depth soil samples from healthy and declined Nagpur mandarin gardens were collected and analyzed for various physico-chemical properties. The findings revealed that the texture of soil is clayey (40 - 59 % clay in healthy gardens and 47.4 - 61.4 % clay in declined gardens). The bulk density and porosity in healthy gardens ranged 1.51 - 1.67 mg.m-3, 35.85 - 43.02 % in declined gardens; it varied from 1.51 to 1.66 mg.m-3 and 25.85 to 43.02 % respectively. The pH, organic carbon and CaCO3 content in healthy gardens soils varies 7.5 - 8.0, 4.8 - 9.0 g kg-1, 5.35 - 8.31 % and in declined gardens it’s 7.7 - 8.2, 1.95 - 3.75 gm kg-1, 6.71 - 10.53 % respectively. The electrical conductivity and cation exchange capacity of healthy gardens soil was noticed 0.21 - 0.28 d.Sm-1, 45.92 - 55.53 c.mol (p+) kg ha-1 and in declined gardens it varied 0.22 - 0.32 d.Sm-1, 46.20 - 51.92 c.mol (p+) kg ha-1 respectively. Further, no significant difference was found in clay, bulk density, porosity, electrical conductivity and cation exchange capacity in healthy and declined gardens; however soil reaction was found high in declined gardens than healthy gardens. Organic carbon content was high and free lime content was reported lower in healthy gardens than declined gardens. Study on depth wise distribution showed that bulk density, pH and electrical conductivity increase with soil depth. Organic carbon and cation exchange capacity decreases with soil depth. The available nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium content of healthy gardens surface soils are ranged 206.0 - 273.7 kg ha-1, 25.0 - 38.3 kg ha-1, 324 - 672 kg ha-1 and in declined gardens it’s varied as 135.4 - 206.8 kg ha-1, 19.8 - 23.3 kg ha-1, 364 - 750.4 kg ha-1 respectively. Available nitrogen and phosphorus content in healthy gardens found more supporting than declined ones. Depth wise distribution showed that available nitrogen and phosphorus showed decreasing trend with the soil depth.


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 151-162
Author(s):  
Samira DOLATI ◽  
◽  
Mohsen KALANI

Mineralogically, bentonites are dominated by smectites and due to characteristic textural and physicochemical properties of smectites (e.g. very small particle sizes, high cation exchange capacity) are of a great use in industrial applications. In this study, a bentonite sample was characterized with regard to the particle size distribution, mineralogical composition and cation exchange capacity in comparison with the data for the two internationally well-known bentonites representative for Na- and Ca-bentonites: the Mx-80 bentonite of Wyoming, USA and that of Milos, Greece, respectively. Results show a high fraction of fine-grained particles, which demonstrates high yield of purified clay. Mineralogically, the studied bentonite comprises mainly smectites and expandable illite-smectite mixed layer clay minerals. Main accessory minerals are calcite, silica polymorphs and zeolites. The specific surface area and cation exchange capacity values are 330.3 (m2g-1) and 42.2 (meq/100 g), respectively. It is concluded that the mineralogical, textural and the measured physicochemical properties of the studied bentonite is applicable to the applications in oil industry and its related environment maintenance related issues.


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