Soil Physico Chemical Properties and Macronutrients Evaluation during Sowing and after Harvesting of Crop at High Altitude Leh Ladakh India

Krishna Kumar; Arup Giri; Vijay K. Bharti; Preeti Kumari; Sunil Kumar; Ajay Kumar Bhardwaj; O.P. Chaurasia

doi:10.14429/dlsj.6.16617

Krishna Kumar DRDO-Defence Institute of High Altitude Research (DIHAR), Leh, Ladakh - 194 101, India http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7788-6821
Arup Giri DRDO-Defence Institute of High Altitude Research (DIHAR), Leh, Ladakh - 194 101, India https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2313-3581
Vijay K. Bharti DRDO-Defence Institute of High Altitude Research (DIHAR), Leh, Ladakh - 194 101, India https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6072-8704
Preeti Kumari DRDO-Defence Institute of High Altitude Research (DIHAR), Leh, Ladakh - 194 101, India https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2162-9890
Sunil Kumar DRDO-Defence Institute of High Altitude Research (DIHAR), Leh, Ladakh - 194 101, India
Ajay Kumar Bhardwaj ICAR-Central Soil Salinity Research Institute (CSSRI), Karnal– 132 001, India https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9194-3968
O.P. Chaurasia DRDO-Defence Institute of High Altitude Research (DIHAR), Leh, Ladakh - 194 101, India

DOI: https://doi.org/10.14429/dlsj.6.16617

Keywords: Nitrogen, Organic carbon, Phosphorus, Potassium, Soil texture, High Altitude, Macronutrient

Abstract

The present study was aimed to investigate the effect of physico-chemical parameters and soil macro-nutrients to know the nutrient uptake status during sowing time (ST) and after the harvesting (AH) of crops of Leh-Ladakh. In this context, total 55 no. of soil samples were collected from the eleven villages. Thereafter, soil texture, pH, electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS), organic carbon (OC), nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) were analyzed as per the standard methods. The results exhibited variation in different studied parameters at ST and AH, are OC (ST- 1.70 ± 0.11; AH-2.31±0.08), N (ST- 171.54±11.40; AH- 212.03±13.18), P (ST- 75.62±8.16; AH- 96.32±11.56), pH (ST- 8.12±0.05; AH- 8.16±0.06), EC (ST- 0.48±0.04; AH- 0.58±17), TDS (ST-309±22.41; AH-189±16.42) and soil texture gradient (Sand: ST-75.16±1.27 & AH-71.75±1.26, Silt: ST- 18.55±1.09 & AH- 20.66±1.02 and clay: ST- 6.33±0.53 & AH- 7.76±0.63). The comparison of physico-chemical parameters, macronutrients, soil texture, and organic carbon at sowing time (ST) and after harvesting (AH) revealed significant difference in some macronutrients, EC, and organic carbon, whereas no changes were observed in soil texture, pH and phosphorus. Hence, this study highlights the need of physico-chemical parameters management during crops sowing for enhancing macronutrients availability to crops in trans-Himalayan high altitude region.