Herojit Singh Athokpam

K Nandini Devi

Linthoi Watham

N Brajendra Singh

N Gopimohan Singh

N Janaki Singh

Nandini Chongtham

Wangkhem Herojit Meitei

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8(3&4): 199-202, 2014
EVALUATION OF SOME SOIL TEST METHODS FOR AVAILABLE
PHOSPHORUS AND ITS CRITICAL LIMITS FOR BLACK GRAM IN
ACID SOILS OF IMPHAL WEST DISTRICT, MANIPUR (INDIA)
LINTHOI WATHAM1, HEROJIT SINGH ATHOKPAM1*, WANGKHEM HEROJIT MEITEI1, NANDINI CHONGTHAM1,
K. NANDINI DEVI1, N. BRAJENDRA SINGH1, N. GOPIMOHAN SINGH1 AND N. JANAKI SINGH2
1Central Agricultural University, Imphal - 795 004 (Manipur)
2College of Post Graduate Studies, Central Agricultural University, Umiam - 793 103, Meghalaya
e-mail: hathokpam@yahoo.in
INTRODUCTION
An extraction method must be selected which gives the good indication of the
amount of nutrient in the soils that available to the particular crops for the soils in
the region in which the test is to be used. This can be done by collecting a large
number of soils representative of the region and growing crops on these soils in
the green house. This eliminates the effects of climatic variation from site to site.
The amount of nutrient absorbed by the crop is then correlated to the amount of
nutrient extracted by various methods to determine the best extractant of the
available nutrient across the range of soils. Fertilizer recommendations for P
generally are based on soil testing. The increasing demand for soil testing (because
of the introduction of grid sampling methods and other site-specific management
practices) necessitates the use of more efficient methods for soil testing. One
possibility for improving laboratory efficiency would be to use a single extractant
for multiple purposes (Antonio and Mallarino 1995).
Phosphorus is the second most important plant nutrient after nitrogen for
agricultural production in most regions of the world. The deficiency in plants has
been reported from various parts of India. Phosphorus is used in the plant for
energy storage and transfer, maintenance and transfer of genetic code, and is
structural component of cells and many biochemicals. Phosphorus deficiencies
results in poor root growth, stunted top growth, reduced yield and crop quality
along with delayed maturity (Mishra, 2012). Pulses production is very low and
become challenging problem against the requirement of increasing population
of our country. The pulses availability per capita was 69.9g in 1951, by increasing
in 1971, it comes to 50g and in 1982 remained only 40g and in 2005, it was 27g.
The availability of pulses is very negligible at present as against required 85g
day-1 capita-1 for balanced diet (Patel et al., 2013).
Phosphorus also reduces the harmful effect of excess nitrogenand imparts resistant
to plants against disease. Supply of phosphorus to legume increase the number
and size of root nodules and nitrogen fixing potentiality of Rhizobium, so it
essential for obtaining the higher yield of crop (Patil and Jadav,1994).The
importance of phosphorus in legumes had been reported by many workers but
work on different forms of phosphorus and their relationship with soil characteristics
and the suitability of various test methods suitable to acid soils of Imphal west
district of Manipur is lacking. Therefore, the present investigation was undertaken
to find out the relative preference of various phosphorus forms by soil test methods
in relation to plant parameters in acid soils of Imphal west district of Manipur. The
objective of this research was to correlate amounts of P extracted by various
extractants with some physico-chemical properties of the soil.
KEY WORDS
Phosphorus
Acid soils
Black gram
Critical limit
Bray’s per cent yield
Received : 17.12.2013
Revised : 12.07.2014
Accepted : 15.09.2014
*Corresponding author
ABSTRACT
Six soil test methods were evaluated for
response of black gram to phosphorus
application on 20 surface soils (0 – 15 cm) of
Imphal west district of Manipur. The suitability
of the extractant was in the order: Bray 1 >
Bray 2 >Mehlich 3 >Troug> Olsen (pH-
8.5) >Mehlich 1. Bray 1 extractant was
assessed to be the best extractant on the basis
of highest degree of correlation with
phosphorus uptake (control), Bray’s per cent
yield and Bray’s per cent uptake. Therefore,
Bray 1 extractant may be used as an index of
available phosphorus for black gram (Uttara)
grown on acid soils of Imphal west district of
Manipur. The critical level is being 13 kg P
2
O
5
ha-1 in the soils on the basis of Bray 1 method.
The critical limit of phosphorus concentration
in plant at 40 days was 0.45 per cent. Among
the inorganic fractions Red-P and Fe-P
accounted for major portion and follow the
trend: Red-P > Fe-P > Al-P >Occl-P >Ca-P
> Sal-P.
200
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Twenty soil samples (0-15) cm were collected from various
location of Imphal West district of Manipur. The soils texture
were analysed by methods described by Chopra and Kanwar
(1976), soil pH, calcium, magnesium, ammonium acetate
extractable K and total N ( Jackson 1973), available N (Subaih
and Asija 1956), and organic carbon was determined by wet
oxidation method of Walkley and Black (1934).
Two and half kg of soil were filled in pots and phosphorus
were applied @ 0, 40, 60 kg P
2
O
5
 ha-1 through single super
phosphate. The treatments were replicated thrice in a
completely randomized design. A basal dose of nitrogen and
potassium @ 20:40 N: K
2
O ha-1 in the form of urea and muriate
of potash in each pot. Black gram (Vignamungo) variety Uttara
seeds were sown and thinned to 4 plants in each pot after 7
days of sowing. The moisture level was maintained at field
capacity level in all the pots by irrigating with distilled water as
and when required. The crop was harvested 40 days after
sowing. The plant samples were washed to remove dirt and
then oven dried at 650C for 48 hours and the dry matter yield
was recorded. The samples were ground and the powdered
samples were analyzed for plant nitrogen using sulphuric acid
and catalysed by macrokjeldhal method, plant phosphorus
by tri-acid digestion using vanadomolybdophosphoric acid
yellow colour method by spectrophotometry and plant
potassium by flame photometry method (Jackson, 1973).
Inorganic phosphorus fractions viz. Saloid P (Sal-P), Aluminium
P (Al-P), Iron P (Fe-P), Reductant soluble P (Red-P), Occluded
P (Occl-P), Calcuim P (Ca-P) were determined sequentially by
modified procedure of Chang and Jackson (1966). The organic
fractions were determined by pre- extraction with concentrated
HCl followed by two extractions with 0.5 M NaOH (Mehta et
al. 1954). The available phosphorus was determined by using
six different extractantsviz. Mehlich 1 (0.0125 M H
2
S0
4
 +
0.05 M HCl), Mehlich 3 (0.M CH
3
COOH, 0.25 M NH
4
NO
3
,
0.015 M NH
4
F, 0.013 M HNO
3
, 0.001 EDTA), Olsen P (0.5 M
NaHCO
3
, pH-8.5). Troug (0.002 N H
2
SO
4
, pH-3), Bray and
Kurtz No.1 (0.03 N NH
4
F + 0.025 N HCl) and Bray No. 2 (0.1
N HCl + 0.03 N NH
4
F) by spectrophotometry method as
described by Jackson (1973).
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Extraction of available phosphorus
The mean extractable phosphorus by various methods (Table
2) followed the trend: Bray 2 >Troug> Bray 1 >Mehlich 3
> Olsen (pH-8.5) >Mehlich 1. The different behavior of
different extractants could be due to their selectivity in
solubilizing specific fractions of phosphorus. Bray 2 reagent
extracted highest amount of available phosphorus among all
extractants. The higher solubility in Bray 2 may be due to its
relatively higher strength of acidity and complexing of Al3+
and Fe3+ with F- ions and consequent release P adsorbed by
these trivalent ions. Similar result was also reported by Ballard,
1974. The Olsen extractant (0.5 M NaHCO
3, 
pH 8.5) removed
lesser P than Bray 2, Troug, Bray 1 and Mehlich 3 due to mild
alkaline nature which displaces P from the surface of Ca, Al
and Fe phosphate by decreasing Ca activity and repression of
Al3+ and Fe3+ activities respectively ( Jackson 1973).
Distribution of Phosphorus fractions
The total inorganic phosphorus is divided into active and
inactive forms. The former consists of Al-P, Fe-P and Ca-P and
the latter consists of occluded, reductant soluble and residual
P (Chang and Jackson 1975). Distribution of various inorganic
fractions of total phosphorus in the soils followed the order:
Red-P> Fe-P> Al-P >Occl-P >Ca-P > Sal-P. The low
percentages of Sal-P and Ca-P in the soils are due to the low
pH of these soils. Similar results were also reported by
Loganathan and Sutton (1987).
Correlation between chemical extractants
The coefficients of correlation values between various
methods (Table 3) reveal that the extractants are closely
interrelated, except Olsen and Mehlich 1. Such close
relationship between the different extractants suggested that
these extractants extracted more or less the same forms of
phosphorus indicating the existence of dynamic equilibrium
among different forms of phosphorus but relatively to different
degrees. Olsen and Mehlich 1 extracted phosphorus did not
correlate with other extractants. The Olsen extractant had
alkalizing character being poor replacer of phosphorus in
acidic soils, the HCO
3
- extractant extract only the free
phosphorus, as a result they generally gave poor correlation
with Mehlich 3, Bray 1 and Bray 2 which has ability to extract
adsorbed, labile and free phosphorus as well be complexing
of Al 3+ and Fe3+ with F - ions. This observation was
corroborated by Ravindra and Ananthanarayana (1999).
Extractant Range(kg P-
2
O
5 
ha-1) Mean(kg P-
2
O
5 
ha-1) Reference
Bray 1(0.03 N NH
4
F + 0.025 N HCl) 6.30-35.90 18.93 Bray & Kurtz (1945)
Bray 2(0.1 N HCl + 0.03 N NH
4
F) 17.90 -41.55 28.06 Bray & Kurtz (1945)
Mehlich 1(0.0125 M H
2
S0
4
 + 0.05 M HCl) 6.19-19.23 10.64 Nelson et al. (1953)
Mehlich3 0.2MCH3COOH,0.25MNH4NO3 8.97-26.93 17.18 Mehlich (1984)
,0.015M NH4F,0.013 M HNO3,0.001 EDTA
Troug(0.002 N H
2
SO
4
, pH-3) 10.77 -41.16 26.35 Troug(1930)
Olsen Olsen P (0.5 M NaHCO
3
, pH-8.5) 4.42-20.64 11.61 Olsen et al. (1954)
Table 2: Amount of phosphorous of the soils extracted by various extractant
Soil characteristic Mean Range
pH 4.98 4.58 – 5.67
Organic carbon (g kg-1) 22.2 11.3 – 35.3
Total nitrogen (%) 0.13 0.06 – 0.22
Available nitrogen (Kg ha-1) 315.51 225.80 - 466.42
Available K
2
O (Kg ha-1) 152.58 98.00 - 207.50
Ca[cmol(P+)kg-1] 2.81 1.25 - 4.40
Mg [cmol(P+)kg-1] 1.86 0.15 - 4.30
Clay (%) 56.95 19.79 - 83.12
Table 1: Physico-chemical properties of soil
LINTHOI WATHAM et al.,
201
Correlation of soil phosphorus with yield and uptake
The simple correlation coefficients between the different
extractant and the yield parameters are presented in the table
4. The data revealed that all the extractants showed positive
and significant correlation with Bray’s per cent and uptake of
Black gram except Olsen and Mehlich I. Bray’s per cent yield
and uptake range from 36.93 to 96.55 per cent and 28.85 to
86.18 per cent, respectively. Among the extractant used Bray
1 is most suitable extractant for determining available soil
phosphorus as the degree of co-efficient of correlation between
the quantities of P extracted by this extractant and yield and
uptake parameters were of higher order and showed higher
degree of co-efficient of correlation with Bray,s per cent yield
and uptake by Black gram with ‘r’ values of 0.833** and
0.833**, respectively.
Critical level of phosphorus
It was observed that the critical level of phosphorus in the soils
varied with methods of phosphorus extraction. According to
graphical procedure of Cate and Nelson (1965), the critical
level of soils ranged from 13 to 27 kgP
2
O-
5 -
ha-1 depending
upon the methods of phosphorus extraction. A high degree of
correlation between Bray 1 extractant and Bray’s per cent yield
indicated 13 kgP
2
O-
5 -
ha-1 (Fig. 1)as the critical limit of available
phosphorus in these soils for demarcating the phosphorus
responsive soil from the unresponsive soil ones. Similar reportT
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Figure 1: Relationship between Bray-1 and Bray’sPercent yield
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
0 10 20 30 40
B
ra
y’
s 
%
 y
ie
ld
Bray 1 extractant( P
2
O
5 
 kg  ha-1)
13.5 ppm
Figure 2: Relationship between phosphorus concentration and bray’s
per cent yield
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
0 20 40 60
B
ra
y’
s 
%
 y
ie
ld
Phosphorous concentration (%)
0.45
EVALUATION OF SOME SOIL TEST METHODS
202
also was reported by Sankeret al. (2011.
The result revealed that the critical level of the phosphorus
concentration in the black gram was found 0.45 per cent
according to graphical procedure of Cate and Nelson (1965)
using a scatter diagram (Fig.2), partitioning the two dimensional
percentage yield versus phosphorus content in the 40 days
old Black gram plants (control) scattered into two group. This
finding was also corroborating with finding of Parmaret al.
(2010).
ACKNOWLEDEGEMENT
The authors are thankful to the Dean, College of Agriculture,
Central Agricultural University, Imphal for financial help in
conducting the research experiment.
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** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level*Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level
Table 4: Simple correlation co-efficient between the different forms of phosphorus and yield parameters of black gram
Extractant Dry matter yield (Control) P content (Control) P uptake (Control) Bray’s % Yield Bray’s % Uptake
Bray 1 0.824** 0.698** 0.887** 0.833** 0.833**
Bray 2 0.439 0.509* 0.555** 0.548* 0.631**
Mehlich 1 0.038 0.111 0.044 0.002 -0.161
Mehlich 3 0.583** 0.543* 0.691** 0.503* 0.661**
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Occluded-P 0.415 0.286 0.428 0.431 0.468*
Calcium-P 0.509* 0.387 0.547** 0.331 0.312
Organic-P -0.234 -0.029 -0.186 -0.190 -0.034
Total-P 0.128 0.355 0.248 0.169 0.300
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LINTHOI WATHAM et al.,


EVALUATION OF SOME SOIL TEST METHODS FOR AVAILABLE PHOSPHORUS AND ITS CRITICAL LIMITS FOR BLACK GRAM IN ACID SOILS OF IMPHAL WEST DISTRICT, MANIPUR (INDIA)

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EVALUATION OF SOME SOIL TEST METHODS FOR AVAILABLE PHOSPHORUS AND ITS CRITICAL LIMITS FOR BLACK GRAM IN ACID SOILS OF IMPHAL WEST DISTRICT, MANIPUR (INDIA)

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