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PRINT ISSN : 2319-7692
Online ISSN : 2319-7706 Issues : 12 per year Publisher : Excellent Publishers Email : editorijcmas@gmail.com / submit@ijcmas.com Editor-in-chief: Dr.M.Prakash Index Copernicus ICV 2018: 95.39 NAAS RATING 2020: 5.38 |
Sorption of boron (B) an important phenomenon in soils regulates its supply for plant growth. However, there are many soil characteristics which influence B adsorption-desorption capacity. Therefore, 80 soil samples (0-0.15m depth) varying in mechanical soil separates (sand, silt and clay), soil pH, organic carbon (OC), cation exchange capacity (CEC) and clay content were collected from different districts of Himachal Pradesh and their B fractions and soil properties were determined. Soil pH (1:2.5), OC (g kg-1), CEC (cmol (p+) kg-1), textural class of the soils in the range of 5.48-7.45, 5.3-23.5, 4.6-15.4 and sandy loam to sandy clay, respectively. Different B fractions viz. readily soluble, specifically adsorbed, oxide bound, organically bound, residual and total were characterized according to fractionation scheme and their contents varied in the range of 0.12-0.55, 0.21-0.62, 0.26-1.67, 0.32-2.34, 19.5-25.7 and 20.6-29.5 mg kg-1, respectively. Residual B was the most dominant pool of soil B contributing about 90.3 per cent of total. The relative contribution of other fractions was in the order, organically bound B > oxide bound B > specifically adsorbed B > readily soluble B. Soil pH, OC and CEC were positively correlated with all boron fractions whereas oxide bound B was negatively correlated.The results emanating from the study revealed that with increase in boron concentration, the boron adsorption by soils increased. Higher CEC, clay and organic carbon content in fine textured soils favoured higher adsorption of boron.