Changes in Soil Sulphur Fractions as Influenced by Nutrient Management Practices in Mulberry

Dhaneshwar Padhan (), Dhanushree Shivaraj, Akshitha Doddagenigera Nagaraja, Pragyan Paramita Rout, C. M. Babu, Ravindra Aurade, Sobhana Velayudhan and Babulal
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Dhaneshwar Padhan: Central Sericultural Research and Training Institute, Mysuru 570008, India
Dhanushree Shivaraj: Department of Chemistry, JSS Science and Technology University, Mysuru 570008, India
Akshitha Doddagenigera Nagaraja: Department of Chemistry, JSS Science and Technology University, Mysuru 570008, India
Pragyan Paramita Rout: Department of Soil Science & Agricultural Chemistry, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan (Deemed to be University), Bhubaneswar 751003, India
C. M. Babu: Central Sericultural Research and Training Institute, Mysuru 570008, India
Ravindra Aurade: Central Sericultural Research and Training Institute, Mysuru 570008, India
Sobhana Velayudhan: Central Sericultural Research and Training Institute, Mysuru 570008, India
Babulal: Central Sericultural Research and Training Institute, Mysuru 570008, India

Land, 2023, vol. 12, issue 6, 1-20

Abstract: Sulphur (S) plays a vital role in improving the quality of mulberry leaves because of its involvement in protein synthesis. The knowledge of different pools of S in soils and its bioavailability for mulberry nutrition is thus, required for optimizing S fertilization. Hence, the present study was designed to ascertain the influence of chemical fertilizer and farmyard manure (both are S sources) on S fractions and its bioavailability in soils. In this regard, four nutrient management practices viz., control (without any chemical fertilizers and organic manures), recommended doses of N, P and K fertilizers (100% RDF), 80% RDF, 60% RDF with four mulberry varieties viz., V-1, G-4, AGB-8 and MSG-2 besides a fallow were considered for the study. Furthermore, the bioavailability of S in soils was tested using four commonly used chemical extractants viz., CaCl 2 , NaHCO 3 , AB-DTPA and Mehlich-3 (with different modes and chemistry of extraction). Organic S was the dominant fraction in the experimental soils accounting for 94.7% of total soil S while the inorganic fraction constituted only 5.3% that includes water soluble, sorbed and carbonate occluded S. Lowest amount of organic S content in soils of unmanured control (579.6 mg kg −1 ) was observed while the 100% RDF treatment (673.2 mg kg −1 ) maintained a higher content of soil organic S. High amount of sorbed and occluded S was observed in control plot compared to other fertilizer treatments (100% RDF, 80% RDF and 60% RDF). There was a gradual decline in soil S fractions when the fertilizer inputs were reduced to 60% suggesting that recommended doses of fertilizer inputs could maintain the soil S fractions. In addition, the extractable fractions of S were influenced by the fertilizer application rates and the extractability of all four extractants decreased with the reduction in fertilizer inputs. The amount of S extracted by all four chemical extractants followed the order of NaHCO 3 > Mehlich-3 > AB-DTPA > CaCl 2 across the tested soils. Dynamic relationships among the extractants indicated that they could extract the S from the same pools in soil. Of the four extractants tested for evaluating plant available S, Mehlich-3 showed a higher degree of correlations with plant tissue S concentration and applied S through chemical fertilizers and farmyard manure. Furthermore, it could maintain strong correlations with water soluble and organic S fractions which were found to contribute significantly to plant S concentration. Thus, Mehlich-3 can be recommended for the assessment of bioavailable S for the nutrition of mulberry.

Keywords: sulphur bioavailability; mulberry cultivation; mulberry varieties; nutrient management practices; extractable sulphur; arylsulfatase (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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