., Jayarama

D'Souza, M. Violet

Hariyappa, N.

Kumar, M.A. Anantha

Nagaraj, J.S.

English

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N. Hariyappa, M. Violet D'Souza, J.S. Nagaraj, M.A. Anantha Kumar, Jayarama232Journal of Plantation Crops, 2009, 37 (3): 232-234Recent developments in agriculture resulting inhigher yield per unit area have compelled the farmer toreview his earlier out look on the fertilizer needs. Thepresent day farmer cannot afford to be complacent withthe soil sources to meet the micronutrient demand of thehigh yielding varieties of crops. In India micronutrientdeficiencies are quite widespread in acidic soils due tocultivation of high yielding varieties and use of chemicalfertilizers. Coffee, like any other crop plant, needs allthe trace elements in adequate and balanced amount forhigher production and better quality. The information onavailable micronutrient status of five zones inChikmagalur district is scanty and hence, the presentstudy was initiated to know the current status of fourmicronutrient cations viz., Zn, Fe, Cu and Mn in soilscropped to coffee and to find out their relationship withsome of the soil characteristics.Two hundred and fifty surface soil samples(0-22 cm) were collected from different coffee estates inChikmagalur district during 2005. A total of 50 soilsamples were collected from each liaison zone viz.,Koppa, Kalasa, Balehonnur, Mudigere and Goonibeedu,which represents the major coffee growing zones of thedistrict. Soil samples were processed, air dried and passedthrough 2 mm sieve and analysed for pH, organic carbon,available P and available K by following standardprocedures of Jackson (1973). Available Zn, Fe, Cu andMn were extracted with DTPA (Lindsay and Norvell,1978) and determined using Atomic AbsorptionSpectrophotometer of model GBC-932. Simplecorrelation co-efficient was worked out between availablemicronutrients and soil characteristics as suggested bySundaraj et al. (1972).Keywords: Chikmagalur soils, micronutrient statusStatus of available major and micronutrients in thecoffee soils of Chikmagalur district in Karnataka(Manuscript Received: 13-10-08, Revised: 05-05-08, Accepted: 20-09-09)Short  scientific  reportThe results indicated that the soil pH ranged from4.5 to 7.22 (Table 1). The soils cropped to coffee aresituated in medium to high rainfall areas and hence,acidic pH is expected. Similar results were also reportedby Ananthanarayana and Ravindra (1998). The organiccarbon of soils ranged from 0.50 to 4.93 per cent inChikmagalur district. Since coffee in India is growninvariably under shade, the addition of leaf litter fromshade trees contributes to the build up of organic matterin the soil. The mean available P and K levels in thepresent study were found to be medium to high in allthe zones, possibly due to heavy fertilization of thesesoils.Table 1. pH, OC, available and available K of coffee growing soils ofChikmagalur districtZone pH OC(%) Mean Av. P Mean Av. K Meanrange range range(kg/ha) (kg/ha)Koppa 4.6-6.4 0.75-4.48 1.80 8-280 34 80-450 255Kalasa 4.8-7.2 0.84-4.76 2.15 8-180 44 50-490 258Mudigere 4.5-6.4 0.5-4.93 2.10 10-100 39 85-530 239Gonibeedu 4.8-6.5 0.56-3.3 1.74 8-200 58 100-630 289Balehonnur 4.7-6.4 0.54-4.44 2.03 4-200 34 40-500 231The DTPA extractable Zn ranged from 0.07 to11.25 ppm. In Kalasa, the highest mean available Zncontent 2.15 ppm was recorded followed by Koppa (2.02ppm), Mudigere (1.55 ppm), Balehonnur (1.51 ppm) andGoonibeedu (1.25 ppm) zones (Table 2). Lindsay andNorvell (1978) suggested the critical limit of DTPAextractable Zn as 0.5 to 1.0 ppm. For Indian soils, Takkarand Mann (1975) suggested the critical limit as 0.6 ppm,according to which about 66 per cent of the soils analysedAvailable major and micronutrients in coffee soils of Chikmagalur district233had the available Zn content below the critical limit. Theavailable Zn content was exceptionally high in some soils,probably due to the application of zinc sulphate alongwith the Bordeaux mixture spray, which is a regularpractice in many plantations.The DTPA extractable Fe content of soils rangedfrom 2.5 to 251 ppm. Mean Fe content was the highestin Balehonnur (60.94 ppm) followed by Kalasa (40.48ppm), Goonibeedu (39.01 ppm), Mudigere (33.93 ppm)and Koppa (28.28ppm) zones (Table 2). The soil availableFe content of 2 ppm was indicated to be critical for normalplant growth (Arora and Sekhon, 1981). However,Lindsay and Norvell (1978) suggested the critical limitof iron as 6.0 ppm. Considering even the highest valueof critical limits of Fe as 6 ppm, the soils of Chikmagalurappeared to be quite sufficient in available Fe.The DTPA extractable Mn content of soils ofranged from 3.23 to 196.0 ppm. The mean Mn contentwas the highest (62.71 ppm) in Balehonnur followed byKalasa (61.68 ppm), Koppa (56.12 ppm), Gonibeedu(43.30 ppm) and Mudigere (42.00 ppm) zones (Table 2).Lindsay and Norvell (1978) and Arora and Sekhon (1981)reported 1 ppm of DTPA extractable Mn as the criticallimit for this micro nutrient. Higher values such as 2 ppm,3 ppm and 4.7 ppm of DTPA extractable Mn have beenreported by Gupta (1993), Shukla and Gupta(1975) andAnonymous (1976), respectively. Accordingly the soilsof Chikmagalur district are well supplied with Mn.Ananthanarayana and Ravindra (1998) reported thatunder acid soil conditions, mobility of micronutrientsespecially Zn, Fe, Mn and Cu is high and as such theirdeficiencies are not noticed. But, toxicity of Mn and Fealong with Al can be expected in acid soils under badmanagement and water logged condition.The DTPA extractable Cu content varied widely.It ranged from 0.20 to 128.85 ppm. The mean Cu contentwas the highest in Kalasa zone (17.70 ppm) followed byKoppa (14.59 ppm), Balehonnur (11.98 ppm), Gonibeedu(11.45 ppm) and Mudigere (7.39 ppm) zones (Table 2).Cu content of 0.2 ppm is considered to be critical formost of the crop plants (Lindsay and Norvell, 1978).Sakal et al. (1988) reported that a higher concentrationof even 0.66 ppm was critical. The present study indicatedthat in most of the soils DTPA extractable Cu content isvery high. This might be due to the accumulation ofcopper in soil as the coffee estates are being sprayed withBordeaux mixture twice in a year to control coffee leafrust, which is a major disease of arabica coffee. However,the copper toxicity symptoms were not noticed in any ofthe estates probably due to high organic matter status ofthese soils.The correlation studies indicated a significantpositive relationship between Zn and soil organic carbon(r = 0.285*) (Table 3) and no correlation was observedbetween available Fe and major nutrients. A significantpositive correlation between DTPA extractable Mn withorganic carbon content (r = 0.172*), and availableK(r = 0.287**), whereas, relationship with pH andavailable P was found to be non-significant. Similarresults are available (Sharma et al., 1985 andAnanthanarayana and Ravindra, 1998). There is asignificant positive relation between DTPA extractableCu and available P (r = 0.231*) and significant negativecorrelation with pH (r = 0.212*). These results are inconformity with the findings of Sakal et al. (1988), Singhand Choudhary (1990) and Maji et al. (1993).The range and mean of micronutrients in thepresent study indicated that all soils are well suppliedwith micronutrient cations except Zn. However,considering the critical limits prescribed by variousauthors, there is a need to fix higher critical limits formicronutrients under acid soil conditions. Gupta, (1993)reported that the critical limits for soil micronutrientsTable 2. Range and mean values of DTPA extractable micronutrients in coffee growing soils of Chikmagalur districtZone Zn (ppm) Fe (ppm) Mn (ppm) Cu (ppm)Range Mean Range Mean Range Mean Range MeanKoppa 0.65-10.72 2.02 2.5 -111 28.28 12.15-117.00 56.12 0.75-113.00 14.59Kalasa 0.32-9.76 2.15 7.25-122 40.48 3.23-139.75 61.68 1.53-128.85 17.70Mudigere 0.18-11.25 1.55 11.68-101 33.93 5.99-120.50 42.00 0.20-83.72 7.39Gonibeedu 0.10-7.76 1.25 8.43-251 39.01 8.38-121.00 43.30 0.41-50.00 11.45Balehonnur 0.07-3.95 1.51 17.48-215 60.94 6.5-196.00 62.71 0.74-104.00 11.98Table 3. Simple correlation co-efficient (r) between available micronutrientsand soil characteristicsSoil characteristics Correlation co-efficientZn Fe Mn CupH - 0.0031 0.0014 0.0775 - 0.2124*Organic carbon 0.285* 0.0474 0.172* 0.0666Available  P 0.111 0.169* 0.005 0.231*Available  K 0.145* - 0.055 0.287* 0.010r - value @ 5% = 0.123N. Hariyappa, M. Violet D'Souza, J.S. Nagaraj, M.A. Anantha Kumar, Jayarama234vary with the soil, crop and extractant used. Even for thesame crop, critical limits are not universal for differentsoils since several factors modify the availability of thesemicronutrients in soils.Thus, it can be concluded that soils of Chikmagalurdistrict are well supplied with all micronutrients studiedexcept zinc. The toxicity of Mn and Al can interfere withcrop production, if proper care is not taken.ReferencesAnanthanarayana, R. and Ravindra, M.R. 1998. Soil acidity and limingin Karnataka. Technical Bulletin. Dept. of Soil Science andAg. Chemistry. U. A. S. Bangalore. p. 5-45.Anonymous, 1976. Annual Progress report of All India CoordinatedResearch Project on micronutrients in soils and plants. ICAR,New Delhi. pp.14-24.Arora, C.L. and Sekhon, G.S. 1981. Influence of soil characteristicson DTPA extractable micronutrient cations in soils of Punjab.J. Indian Soc. Soil Sci. 29: 453-459.Gupta, V.K. 1993. Soil Analysis for Available Micronutrients Inmethods of Analysis of Soils and Plant and Water andFertilizers. Tandon. H.L.S. (Ed.). Fertilizer Development andConsultation Organization, New Delhi. 144 p.Jackson, M.L. 1973. Soil Chemical Analysis. Prentice Hall of IndiaPvt. Ltd., New Delhi. p. 496-545.Lindsay, W.L. and Norvell, W.A. 1978. Development of DTPA Soiltest for Zn, Fe, Mn and Cu. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. Proc. 42:421-428.Maji, B. Chetergi, I.S. and Bandyopadhyay, B.K. 1993. Availableiron, manganese, zinc and copper in coastal soils ofSunderban, West Bengal. J. Indian Soc. Soil Sci. 41(3):468-471.Sakal, R., Singh, A.P. and Singh, S.P. 1988. Micronutrient distributionin alluvial soils of Bihar. J. Indian Soc. Soil Sci. 36(3):59-63.Singh, A.R. and Choudhary, S.N. 1990. Soil copper status of calcareousbelt of Bihar. J. Indian Soc. Soil Sci. 38 (1): 317-322.Sharma, B.K. Dhir, R.P. and Joshi, D.C. 1985. Available micronutrientstatus of some soils of arid zone. J. Indian Soc. Soil Sci. 33:50-54.Shukla, U.C. and Gupta, B.L. 1975. Response of manganeseapplication and evaluation of chemical extractants todetermine available manganese in some soils of Haryana. J.Indian Soc. Soil Sci. 23: 357-361.Sundaraj, N., Nagaraju, S., Venkataramu, M.N. and Jaganath, M.K.1972. Design and analysis of field experiments. U.A.S.Bangalore. No. 22.Takkar, P.N. and Mann, C.L. 1975. Available micronutrients statusof Indian soils. Agrochimica. 11: 275 -279.Central Coffee Research Institute, N. Hariyappa,Coffee Research Station - 577 117, M. Violet D'Souza,Chikmagalur District, J.S. Nagaraj,Karnataka, India M.A. Anantha Kumar,Jayarama

Status of available major and micronutrients in the  coffee soils of Chikmagalur district in Karnataka

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Status of available major and micronutrients in the coffee soils of Chikmagalur district in Karnataka

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