Green Global
Foundation   Journal
...an emerging window for scientific research and publication across the globe

DISTRIBUTION OF SULPHUR IN ACID SOILS, LAKKATURA TEA GARDEN, SYLHET (Pages : 13 - 18)

A study was undertaken with soils collected from four locations of Lakkatura Tea Garden, Sylhet to evaluate the distribution of S and its relationship with soil properties. The soil samples were collected from two depths, 0-15 cm and 15-30 cm covering 0 year, 20 year, 40 year and 60 year tea cultivated soils. The soil samples were analyzed for various S fractions including total S, organic S, inorganic S and available S. The available S in soils was extracted with four different extractants viz. MCP (500 ppm P), NH4OAc (0.5M), CaCl2 (0.15%), NaH2PO4 (in 2N acetic acid). Different S fractions showed a variation in their levels and also showed a decrease in subsurface soils. The total S content varied in different aged tea soils ranging from 506.53 to 661.20 ppm at 0-15 cm depth but at 15-30 cm depth it varied from 404.07 to 624.60 ppm in different tea cultivated soil. The highest total S content of 661.2 ppm was found in 0 year age tea soil and the lowest value of 404.06 ppm was found in 60 year age tea cultivated soil. The highest organic S content of 127.41 ppm was found at 0-15 cm depth in 0 year tea cultivated soil and the lowest value of 67.28 ppm was found in 60 year tea cultivated soil. The inorganic S content of soils varied from 410.83 to 543.46 ppm at 0-15 cm depth and from 336.79 to 532.83 ppm at 15-30 cm. The organic and inorganic S constituted on an average 17.52% and 82.92% of total S, respectively. The available S content of soils varied considerably with the variation of soils and extractants used. The highest content of available S was observed in 0 year age tea cultivated soil with all the extractants while the 60 year age tea cultivated soil showed the lowest value. Among all the extractants MCP gave the highest available S while NaH2PO4 gave the lowest values. The mean value of S extracted by different extractants followed the order of MCP> NH4OAc> CaCl2> NaH2PO4. Download