Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry 2019; 8(5): 66-67

E-ISSN: 2278-4136 P-ISSN: 2349-8234 JPP 2019; 8(5): 66-67 Available sulphur status in cultivated soils of Received: 07-07-2019 Accepted: 09-08-2019 of North

BT Patel Professor, Department of Agril. BT Patel, JM Patel, IM Patel and Neha Chaudhary Chem. and Soil Science, CPCA, SDAU, Sardarkrushinagar, Abstract Gujarat, In order to assess the available sulphur content in soils of Aravalli district of , two hundred

JM Patel and sixty five surface soil samples (0-15 cm) were randomly collected from 6 talukas of Aravalli district Associate Research Scientist, of North Gujarat. All the collected soil samples were analyzed for available sulphur as per standard Bio Science Research Centre, procedure. Results revealed that the available S content in soils of Aravalli district varied from 3.64 to SDAU, Sardarkrushinagar, 86.91 mg kg-1 with a mean value of 24.21 mg kg-1. Out of 265 soil samples of the district, 20.38, 31.70 Gujarat, India and 47.92 per cent were found under low, medium and high category for available sulphur, respectively. According to the nutrient index value (NIV), soils of Aravalli district were adequate in available sulphur IM Patel (2.28). Significant positive correlation was found to exist between organic carbon and available S status Assistant Research Scientist, of soil under study. AICRP on IFS, SDAU, Sardarkrushinagar, Gujarat, Keywords: Available sulphur, nutrient index value, correlation India

Neha Chaudhary Introduction Senior Research Fellow, Soil characterization in relation to evaluation of fertility status of the soil of an area or region Bio Science Research Centre, is an important aspect in context of sustainable agricultural production. Nitrogen, phosphorus, SDAU, Sardarkrushinagar, potassium and sulphur are important soil elements that control its fertility and yields of crops. Gujarat, India Because of imbalanced and inadequate fertilizer use coupled with low efficiency of other

inputs, the response efficiency of chemical fertilizer nutrients has declined tremendously under intensive agriculture in recent years. Sulphur recognized as fourth important plant nutrient after N, P and K and is gaining considerable importance in quality crop production in context of Indian agriculture, particularly when there is more and more use of non-sulphur containing fertilizers as well as scares use of organic manures. A few years ago, sulphur was considered

as a nutrient of academic interest, but today its importance to Indian agriculture is being increasingly recognized. Sulphur deficiency is prevailing in various states of India raging from 15 to 84 per cent (Tewatia et al. 2006) [8]. On the basis of 7587 soil samples analyzed under Micronutrient Research Project (ICAR), Anand showed that 42.4 per cent soil samples were found deficient for sulphur in the soils of different parts of Gujarat (Ramani et al. 2018) [5].

The information on availability of sulphur of the study area is meager. Therefore, the present study was undertaken to know the sulphur status of soils of Aravalli district and an attempt was also made to correlate sulphur content of the soils with other soil properties.

Analytical Methods

The study area covers 6 talukas of Aravalli district which has total geographical area of 2 3,217.19 km . The study area is in between 24.0283° N latitudes and 73.0414° E longitudes with an elevation of 92-96 meter above the mean sea level. The district has humid sub-tropical climate with hot and dry summer with an average rainfall of 856 mm. Total two hundred sixty five representative surface soil samples (0-15 cm) from 6 talukas of Aravalli district of North

Gujarat were collected from farmers’ fields during summer season of 2018 using multistage stratified random sampling method. Soil samples were air dried, processed to pass 2 m sieve and analyzed for available S by extracting soil with 0.15% CaCl2.2H2O (Williams and Steinbergs, (1959) [9] followed by turbidimetric method. The soil samples were categorized into low, medium and high categories based on the critical limit of available sulphur (Hariram [2] and Dwivedi, 1994) . The nutrient index value (NIV) for available sulphur was calculated [6] utilizing the formula suggested by Ramamoorthy and Bajaj (1969) . The simple correlation Correspondence coefficient was compared in relation to available sulphur content with other soil properties BT Patel (EC, pH and OC) as suggested by Panse and Sukhatme (1961) [3]. Professor, Department of Agril. Chem. and Soil Science, CPCA, SDAU, Sardarkrushinagar, Gujarat, India ~ 66 ~ Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry

Nutrient Index Value (NIV) = [(Nl  1)  (Nm  2)  ( Nh  3)] 14.63% was observed in taluka of district. Low 100 status of available sulphur (about 20%) would highly need sulphur management through addition of inorganic S

containing fertilizers, gypsum and organic manures. Sulphur Where, Nl, Nm and Nh are the percentage of soil samples [5] falling in low, medium and high categories for available deficiency also reported by Ramani et al. (2018) to the tune of 42.4% in different districts of Gujarat and 30% by Patel et sulphur and are given weightage of 1, 2, and 3, respectively. [4] The nutrient index value are rated in various categories viz; al. (2012) in of North Gujarat. very low (< 1.33), low (1.33-1.66), marginal (1.66-2.00), Nutrient index value of Aravalli district ranged from 1.75 to adequate (2.00-2.33), high (2.33-2.66) and very high (> 2.66) 2.45 indicating marginal to high status of available sulphur in as rating given by Stalin et al. (2010) [7]. soil. The soils of Aravalli district have overall NIV of 2.28 indicating adequate fertility status for available sulphur (Table Results and Discussion 2). Available sulphur had highly significant and positive The available sulphur content in soils of Aravalli district correlation with organic carbon (r = 0.131**) and EC (r = varied from 3.64 to 86.91 mg kg-1 with a mean value of 24.21 0.291**), whereas negative and non-significant correlation (r mg kg-1 (Table 1). Out of 265 soil samples of the district, = 0.291**) with pH (Table 3). This might be due to the fact 20.38, 31.70 and 47.92 per cent were found under low, that with increase in organic carbon in soil, the clay-humus medium and high categories for available sulphur, complex become more active thereby providing more respectively (Table 1). The maximum deficiency of 36.36 was exchange sites and access to sulphur. observed in Bayad taluka, while minimum deficiency of

Table 1: Talukawise range and mean values (mg kg-1) with percent distribution in different categories of available S in soils of Aravalli district

Per cent distribution Name of Taluka Range (mg kg-1) Mean (mg kg-1) Low ( < 10 mg kg-1) Medium (10-20 mg kg-1) High (>20 mg kg-1) Bhiloda 7.74- 60.06 26.34 20.75 13.21 66.04 7.74 - 55.51 26.92 16.28 30.23 53.49 Bayad 3.64 - 55.51 14.85 36.36 52.27 11.36 7.28 - 54.15 26.77 16.28 23.26 60.47 Dhansura 8.19 - 86.91 30.03 14.63 31.71 53.66 Malpur 5.92 - 86.00 20.16 17.07 43.90 39.02 District 3.64 - 86.91 24.21 20.38 31.70 47.92

Table 2: Nutrient Index value and fertility status of available sulphur 2. Hariram, Dwiwedi KN. “Delineation of sulphur deficient of Aravalli district soil groups in the central alluvial tract of Uttar Pradesh”.

Name of Taluka Nutrient Index Value Fertility Status Journal of the Indian Society of Soil Science. 1994; Bhiloda 2.45 High 42(3):284-286. Meghraj 2.37 High 3. Panse VG, Sukhatme PV. Statistical methods for Bayad 1.75 Marginal agricultural workers. ICAR, New Delhi, 1961. Modasa 2.44 High 4. Patel JM, Patel MV, Patel BT. Delineation of sulphur Dhansura 2.39 High deficient soils in Banaskantha. Gujarat Agricultural Malpur 2.22 Adequate Universities Research Journal. 2012; 37(1):23-25. District 2.28 Adequate 5. Ramani VP, Dileep Kumar, Patel RA, Pandya CB, Patel KP, Shukla AK. Recent Development on Micro and Table 3: Correlation coefficient (r) of soil properties (EC, pH and Secondary Nutrients Research in Gujarat. In Souvenir, OC) with available sulphur rd 83 Annual Convention of Indian Society of Soil Science Soil Properties & National Seminar on Developments in Soil Science- Available S EC pH OC 2018, 2018, 75-90. 0.291** - 0.027 0.131** 6. Ramamoorthy B, Bajaj JC. Available N, P and K status ** Significant at 1% level of significance of Indian soils. Fertilizer News. 1969; 14:24-26. 7. Stalin P, Singh MV, Muthumanickam D, Chitedeshwari Conclusions T, Velu V, Appavu K. Four Decade of Research on Lack of knowledge and importance about sulphur among Management of Micro and Secondary Nutrient and farmers, exhaustive and high yielding cultivars and neglected Pollutant Elements in Crops and Soils of Tamil Nadu. usage of farm yard manures seems to have terminated to a Publication No. 8. AICRP micro- and secondary- wide occurrence of sulphur deficiency. It is obvious that the nutrients and pollutant elements in soils and plants, IISS, soil available S varied with variation in soil properties of Bhopal. 2010; 8:22. different talukas of Aravalli district. It was observed that the 8. Tewatia PK, Chaudhary RS, Kalwe SP. Proceedings of soils of Aravalli district have adequate status of available TSI-FAI-IFA Symposium Workshop on Sulphur in sulphur indicating no need to supply sulphur fertilizer to meet Balanced Fertilization. New Delhi, 2006, 17-18. sulphur requirement of crops in general. However, sulphur 9. Williams CH, Steinbergs H. Soil sulphur fractions as addition through inorganic S containing fertilizer is required chemical indices of available sulphur in some Australian in sulphur deficient soil. soils. Australian Journal of Agriculture Research. 1959;

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