Availability of Iron, Manganese and Zinc in Paddy Soils of South Gujarat

Abstract

Nearly sixty one per cent of paddy soils in the region between Mindhola and Kaveri rivers in South Gujarat contained adequate quantity of available Zn, Fe and exchange- abie Mn, while less than 8 per cent of soils were deficient in Zn and Fe and rest of them had medium status. Iron deficient soils were largely confined to the northern pert of the paddy Srowing region, while Zn deficiency was evenly spread barring soils from Navsari and Mahuva talukas. On the basis of exchangeable content, the deficiency of Mn was to the extent of 39 per cent, however, taking into consideration the high amount of easily reducible Mn, all but one could be rated as sufficient in Mn. Generally, negative correlations existed between the available contents and soil pH, CaCO; and silt + clay contents, while it was positive with organic matter. How- ever, significant relationships were noted only in the case of available Fe when corre lated with either CaCO, or organic matter content.