Distribution of different potassium fractions in the soil profiles of Karaikal, Puducherry

Abstract

While the methodology adopted to determine the potassium (K) releasing power of the soil in the laboratory quantifies the solution and exchangeable K, under field situations, the release from nonexchangeable K is trigged depending on the crop demands and K loses. In other words, a soil that may contain low levels of labile K may derive K from a non-exchangeable pool provided the level of non-exchangeable K pool is higher. Therefore, the response of the crop to K fertilization is more related to the shift in the equilibrium among the different forms of K rather than the amount of K available in the labile pool. An investigation was carried out in the farm soils of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru College of Agriculture & Research Institute (PAJANCOA & RI), Karaikal to study different K-fractions. A total of 22 soil profiles were exposed and horizon wise soil samples were collected, processed and subjected to analysis. The results, thus obtained, were subjected to descriptive statistics, simple correlation and linear multiple regression analysis to establish the interrelationships of different fractions of soil K with other soil physicochemical properties.