Assessment of distribution of different forms of potassium in soil of Hittnalli micro-watershed of Vijayapura district of Karnataka

Abstract

Potassium is the major plant nutrient essential for various metabolic activities in living cell, it is the dominant cation in the plant cell it acts as a catalyst for enzymatic reaction of living cells so the study was conducted to assess the physico-chemical properties, different forms of potassium in the soil. The sixty surface samples (0-20 cm) at 320 × 320 m grid intervals were collected in Hittnalli micro-watershed of Vijayapura district in Karnataka were studied in UASD. The soil reaction in the soil were ranged from 7.89 to 8.95 with mean value of 8.42, EC values of samples ranged from 0.16 to 0.42 dS m-1 with the mean value of 0.25 dS m-1. The different forms of potassium in the soil were viz., water soluble K, exchangeable K, non-exchangeable K, mineral (lattice) –K and Total K were ranged from 2.36 to 12.84 mg kg-1, 206.77 to 321.71 mg kg-1, 534.91 to 887.60 mg kg-1, 1.24 to 2.52 per cent and 1.34 to 2.64 per cent respectively. The fractions of potassium were found in the order of Total K > Lattice K > Non exchangeable K > Exchangeable K > Water soluble K.