Abstract

                                Among the four micronutrient cations, deficiency of Zn (98%) was found to be widespread in Amaravathy River Command area. Fe deficiency was found to be in 36 per cent of calcareous soils and 14 per cent of non-calcareous soils, 28 per cent of the samples showed Cu deficiency and 4 per cent Mn deficiency. The mean contents of DTPA Zn, Cu, Fe and Mn were 0.38, 2.23, 19.17 and 7.34 ppm respectively. The total Zn had positive relationship with clay, fine sand, organic carbon, CEC, EC and CaCO3 and negative relationship with coarse sand. The DTPA Zn had a positive relationship with organic carbon. The total Cu and total Fe failed to show any dependence with any of the soil properties studied. But the DTPA Cu was found to positively correlate with clay. organic carbon, CEC and total Cu while the DTPA-Fe showed negative relationship with soil pH. Positive significant relationship of total Mn was seen with clay, silt, pH, EC and CaCO, while a negative correlation between DTPA-Mn and course sand was observed.

Key words : Micronutrients, Distribution, Deficiency, Soil Properties