Opinder Singh2017-02-202017-02-202012http://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810001828Ten representative salt-affected soils from different parts of the Muktsar district of Punjab were studied for their morphological, physical and chemical characteristics and different forms of iron (Fe). The concentration of different forms of iron in the samples collected from different profile depths were estimated with the help of atomic absorption spectrophotometer. The texture of these soils varied from silty clay loam, silt, silt loam through loam to sandy loam whereas soil pH ranged from 8.3 to 10.2, 8.6 to 10.0 and 8.2 to 9.4 in the saline, sodic and saline-sodic soils, respectively. DTPA-Fe in these different soil profiles ranged between 1.08 to 31.2 mg kg-1 and followed the order as sodic < saline-sodic < saline soils. The SpAd-Fe content was reported the highest in the saline and the lowest in the saline-sodic soils. Iron adsorbed on oxide surfaces followed the order as MnOX-Fe < AFeOX-Fe < CFeOX-Fe whereas OM-Fe followed the order as saline-sodic > saline > sodic soils. The RES-Fe was highest in the saline soils and lowest in the saline sodic soils. The DTPA- Fe was significantly and near significantly positively correlated with EC and OC respectively. Also the DTPA-Fe showed significant positive correlation with MnOX-Fe and AFeOX-Fe. Similarly significantly negative correlation was observed between WSEX-Fe and CFeOX-Fe, SpAd-Fe and CFeOX-Fe, SpAd-Fe and OM-Fe. Results of the study showed that the mean total content of Fe in different soils was 2.10 per cent which is lower than the mean global value of 3.50 per cent.enThesis