Assessment of nutritional status of tomato growing soils of Bilaspur district of Himachal Pradesh
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Date
2024-02-15
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College of Horticulture and Forestry Dr YSP UHF, Neri, Hamirpur(H.P.)
Abstract
A survey for the “Assessment of nutritional status of tomato growing soils of Bilaspur district of Himachal Pradesh” was carried out to evaluate the nutrient status of the soils and to work out the relationship between soil characteristics and available soil and leaf nutrient contents. For this, 113 soil sampling locations were selected and 226 representative surface (0-15 cm) and sub-surface (15-30 cm) soil samples were collected. Soil samples were then processed and analysed for different soil physico-chemical properties viz., soil texture, bulk density, particle density, porosity, maximum water holding capacity, soil pH, EC, organic carbon, available macro and micronutrients. The tomato growing soils of the district varied from sandy loam to loamy sand in texture. The soils were neutral, slightly alkaline and slightly acidic in reaction and EC values of all the soil samples were under normal range. The overall soil organic carbon content in surface soils was medium to high in status and medium in subsurface soils. The soil nutrient indices indicated that the soils of the study area were medium in available N, DTPA-extractable Fe, Zn and Mn, whereas, high in available P, K, S, exchangeable Ca, Mg and DTPA-extractable Cu. Representative tomato leaf samples were collected at mid bloom stage from the same farmer's field and analysed for all the macro and micronutrients. Leaf nutrient status showed that all the samples were in medium in total leaf N, Fe, Cu, Zn and Mn. It further showed that most of the samples were medium in total leaf P, K S, Ca and Mg. Correlation studies showed that Bulk density was positively correlated with particle density, whereas, it showed a negative but significant correlation with porosity and maximum water holding capacity. Organic carbon content had a significant and positive correlations with all the soil macro and micronutrients. The leaf contents had a highly significant and positive correlation with their respective availability in soil.