Abstract

                                Surface soil samples were collected from different locations of lower Bhavani Project (LBP) avacyt arcas in Periyar district and analysed for DTPA extractable-Zn, Cu, Fe and Mn. The results showed that 28 per cent of the soils were different in available-Zn. In the second phase. A pot experiment was conducted with fifteen bulk soils from different location of LBP based on available-Zn status of the soils in first phase of the project with five levels of Zn and ADT.38 rice as test crop. The crop was grown for seven secks only. The results showed that 1.61 ppm of DTPA-Zn in soils can be used as the critical level of Zn for delinneating the soils as Zn deficient areas from sufficient areas of LBP. In rice plant, 25.3 ppm of Zn can be used as critical level for diagnosing Zn deficiency in the well established ADT.38 rice plant of LBP ayacut areas.

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