Abstract

An incubation study with labelled 65Zn was conducted to study the pattern of release and fixation of added 65Zn in 15 representative rice soils of Tamil Nadu at 10 levels of added 65Zn viz., 0. 2.5, 5.0. 7.5, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 100/u/g of soil. The result showed that the DTPA extractable 65Zn was a function of added 65Zn and the rate of extractability was more in coarse textured soils than in clayey solls. The rate of extractability of added 65za had positive correlations with fine and coarse sand fractions and negative relationships with clay and organic carbon content of the soils. The Zn, fixing capacity revealed an exactly opposite trend to that of Zn extractability indicating higher Zn fixing capacity in clayey soils than the sandy loam soils.

Keywords: