Original Articles
Vasant Barhate, Heena Magodia,
Abstract
A study was conducted to quantify the extent of micronutrient deficiency in soils of Nashik and Kolhapur districts of Maharashtra (India). Surface soil samples were collected from farmer’s fields representing 25 villages from selected two taluka’s of Nashik and Kolhapur district of Maharashtra state following sampling procedure of multistage statistical approach. The processed soil samples were analyzed for AB-DTPA extractable Cu, Zn, Mn and Fe using ICP-OES instrument. The result showed that mean value of AB-DTPA Cu, Fe, Mn and Zn were 1.14, 7.68, 3.83 and 2.18 mg/kg, respectively for Nashik district. Similarly, an average value of 1.15, 11.63, 4.10 and 1.54 mg/kg for AB-DTPA Cu, Fe, Mn and Zn, respectively were observed for Kolhapur district. The data also revealed that all the soil samples analysed for the mean AB-DTPA extractable Cu were well above the critical limits (>0.2 mg/kg) for both Nashik and Kolhapur district. The AB-DTPA extractable micronutrients were relatively higher in soils of slightly acidic to neutral pH than the soils of near neutral to slightly alkaline pH, indicating the plant available micronutrients were more in acidic soils. The results of the studies have potential practical use in determining site-specific nutrient management practices for sustainable crop production, improving nutrient use efficiency, reducing cost of cultivation, and preventing environmental pollution.