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Soil physical quality and nutrient availability in some maize growing soils of Bihar

KrishiKosh

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Title Soil physical quality and nutrient availability in some maize growing soils of Bihar
 
Creator Raj, Kumar Rishav
 
Subject irrigation, soil physics, clay, animal husbandry, carbon, tillage, crops, maize, soil density, soil degradation
 
Description Soil being a heterogeneous body, there is a very limited scope to judge the relative fitness with respect to different soil physical characteristics and their designated functions for better crop growth. Soil physical quality (SPQ) can be a platform that involves assessment of soil properties and processes as they relate to the ability of a soil to function effectively as a component of a healthy ecosystem. Geo referenced soil samples collected from some maize growing soils from Khagaria and Bhagalpur districts of Bihar were subjected to physical and chemical analysis The pH of the selected soils ranged from 7.45 to 8.09, EC from 0.145 – 0.457 dS m-1, soil organic carbon from 0.26-0.89 %, and, Available N, P and K from 100.4 to 179.8, 26.24 to 76.26 and 129.55 to 599.20 kg ha-1, respectively. The bulk density, maximum water holding capacity and saturated hydraulic conductivity of the soils ranged from 1.38 to 1.66 Mg m-3, 43.7 to 53.1 % and 0.39 to 0.80 mm hr-1, respectively. MWD & GMD of water stable aggregates ranged from 0.459 to 3.820 mm and 0.552 to 1.323 mm respectively.
Principal components analysis for the soil physical quality indicators revealed that the principal component 1 was the only principal component having Eigen value > 1 and organic carbon, maximum water holding capacity, saturated hydraulic conductivity, bulk density, mean weight diameter of soil separates and percentage clay were highly weighted under PC1. The soil physical quality indices under study were mean weight diameter and geometric mean diameter of water stable aggregates, percentage of water stable aggregates greater than 0.25 mm, structural stability index, dispersion ratio, clay ratio, erosion ratio and soil erodibility ‘K’ estimated using nomographic equation & the value at maximum membership of the fuzzy K frequency distribution estimated using the fuzzy logic based program FUZKBAS. These were found to be significantly correlated with SPQ indicators. Hence we recognize them as indices of soil physical quality. The results of stepwise regression show that organic carbon and soil separates (clay content) are the most important variables determining the availability of nitrogen and potassium. Potassium also shows significant and positive correlation with clay content.
It may be concluded that clay and organic carbon content can be the potential indicators of the physical quality for the maize growing soils. These indicators can be used to describe the state of soil physical quality of the maize growing soils on their own as well as on the basis of several indices such as mean weight diameter and geometric mean diameter of water stable aggregates, percentage of water stable aggregates greater than 0.25 mm, stability index, dispersion ratio, clay ratio, erosion ratio and estimates of the soil erodibility factor K, in which clay and organic matter content are contributing factors. There are indications that the maize growing soils are of poor physical quality and need to be managed judiciously.
 
Date 2015-05-27T11:38:29Z
2015-05-27T11:38:29Z
2014
 
Type Thesis
 
Identifier http://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/63869
 
Language en
 
Format application/pdf
 
Publisher Department of Soil Science & Agricultural Chemistry, BAU, Sabour