The Pedospheric Variation of DTPA-Extractable Zn, Fe, Mn, Cu and Other Physicochemical Characteristics in Major Soil Orders in Existing Land Use Systems of Punjab, India

Salwinder Singh Dhaliwal, Vivek Sharma, Janpriya Kaur, Arvind Kumar Shukla, Akbar Hossain, Shams H. Abdel-Hafez, Ahmed Gaber, Samy Sayed and Vijay Kant Singh
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Salwinder Singh Dhaliwal: Department of Soil Science, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana 141027, India
Vivek Sharma: Department of Soil Science, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana 141027, India
Janpriya Kaur: Department of Soil Science, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana 141027, India
Arvind Kumar Shukla: Indian Institute of Soil Science, Bhopal 462038, India
Akbar Hossain: Department of Agronomy, Bangladesh Wheat and Maize Research Institute, Dinajpur 5200, Bangladesh
Shams H. Abdel-Hafez: Department of Chemistry, College of Science, Taif University, P.O. Box 11099, Taif 21944, Saudi Arabia
Ahmed Gaber: Department of Biology, College of Science, Taif University, P.O. Box 11099, Taif 21944, Saudi Arabia
Samy Sayed: Department of Science and Technology, University College-Ranyah, Taif University, P.O. Box 11099, Taif 21944, Saudi Arabia
Vijay Kant Singh: Department of Soil Science, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana 141027, India

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-14

Abstract: The agricultural production in Punjab has increased manifold that aggravated the deficiencies of micronutrients in soils and plants. The availability of soil micronutrients in different soil orders depends upon the soil mineralogy, topography, climatic conditions and cropping sequences. Hence, to study the pedospheric variations of DTPA-extractable micronutrients, viz., zinc (Zn), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn) and copper (Cu), in three prominent soil orders of Punjab, a total of 144 depth-wise soil samples were collected from four major land-use systems (cultivated, horticulture, forest and pasture lands). The DTPA extractable micronutrients varied from 1.74–2.81, 1.83–2.82 and 1.81–2.80 for Zn; 5.3–6.8, 5.6–6.9, 4.3–6.3 for Fe; 5.1–7.8, 5.5–7.9, 5.4–7.5 for Mn; and 0.84–1.40, 0.93–1.68, 0.87–1.65 for Cu in soil orders Aridisol, Entisol and Inceptisol, respectively. The average content of DTPA-extractable micronutrients was highest under soil order Entisol followed by Inceptisol and Aridisol. The content of micronutrients showed a declining trend with increase in soil depth in all orders. Among different soil properties, the pH and EC showed significantly negative correlation, however, OC had non-significant correlation with DTPA-extractable micronutrients in soils. Therefore, it is concluded that parent material, land use systems and soil depth affected the distribution of DTPA extractable micronutrients in different soil orders.

Keywords: land use system; micronutrients; Inceptisol; Entisol; Aridisol; soil profile (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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