Characterization of available Sulphur and micronutrient status in the soils of Perambalur district in Tamil Nadu

Abstract

An investigation was carried out by collecting 507 geo-referenced surface soil samples from 127 panchayat villages at 4 samples per village along and analyzed for soil physico- chemical properties, available sulphur and DTPA extractable micronutrients. The overall soil reaction (pH) in the district varied from 6.90 to 9.00 with a mean of 8.23, indicating that the soils were alkaline in nature. The salt status was low with an electrical conductivity of 0.11 to 2.60 dS m-1 with the overall organic carbon content of low status. The available sulphur (CaCl2- S) content in the soils of Perambalur district ranged from 10.8 to 127 mg kg-1 with a mean of 52.3 mg kg-1 indicating the sufficiency. The available micronutrients status in the soils varied from 2.42 to 34.9, 2.10 to 19.3, 0.14 to 8.75 and 0.20 to 7.70 mg kg-1 respectively for DTPA Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu. The soils of Perambalur district were very high in S and Mn fertility, adequate to high in Fe, low to very high in Zn, low to high in Cu and B availability. Zinc was predominantly deficient in the soils (45.4%) followed by Cu (39.3%) and Fe (4.59%). None of the soil samples collected from the district was deficient in Mn and S.