Author(s):

PS Patil, VM Dalavi and HK Kausadikar

Abstract: An investigation was carried out to study the evaluation of nutrient status of sweet orange orchards in Jalna district by soil analysis. One hundred representative sweet orange orchards from of sweet orange growing belt of Jalna district having cultivation of more than one ha with different health status were selected for the study. From 100 sweet orange orchards, soil samples of 0-30 cm depth were collected by considering depth and texture of soil. On the basis of soil Physico-chemical properties, sweet orange orchard soils were found to be neutral to alkaline in soil reaction, (pH: 7.3-8.3) with normal range of salinity (EC: 0.09-0.39 dSm^-1 ) along with non-calcareous to moderately calcareous nature (CaCO₃ : 2.2-5.9 %) and moderately high to very high organic carbon content (OC : 0.71-1.49 %). Regarding fertility status, sweet orange orchard soils are very low in available N (128.3-241.2 kg ha^-1), low to medium in available P (7.34-19.37 kg ha^-1) and medium to rich in available K (223.3-1042.6 kg ha^-1). Further, it was observed that these are soils were well supplied with available Ca and Mg nutrient (1265-4320 and 356-1232 mg kg^-1). Among micro nutrients, sweet orange orchard soils are 44 % deficient in DTPA Fe (2.73-9.8 mg kg^-1) and 51 % deficient in are DTPA Zn (0.42-1.76 mg kg^-1) and are 100 % sufficient in Cu (0.89-4.05 mg kg^-1) and Mn (4.75-26.75 mg kg^-1). Soil analysis of sweet orange orchards in Jalna district confirmed the wide spread deficiencies of soil nutrients viz., N, Zn and Fe.

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