Abstract

laboratory experiment was carried out at the Agricultural college and Research Institute, Madurai during the year 2005 to evaluate in the releasing pattern of sulphur and native phosphorous from six major soil series of Madurai district, Tamil Nadu. The result revealed that increasing levels of sulphur increased the available sulphur and phosphorous in all the soils. The sulphur availability was increased upto 4 weeks of incubation and thereafter a declining trend was noticed. Whereas the phosphorous availability increased progressively with the increase in period of incubation upto fifth week beyond which the rate of increase narrowed down. Among the six soil series, the maximum available sulphur (27.7 mg kg-1) and phosphorous (25.0 mg kg-1) were observed in anaiyur series followed by kalathur series for available sulphur (21.1 mg kg-1). Madukkar series recorded highest available phosphorous (19.9 mg kg-1)

Keywords: Soil series, sulphur, phosphorous, incubation, availability