Author(s): S. PRAMANIK AND P. B. CHAKRABORTY

Abstract: The study was undertaken in a micro-watershed of Sundarban with the aim to study some chemical properties of soil like organic carbon, pH, electrical conductivity (EC), cation exchange capacity (CEC), sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP) as well as available total nitrogen (N), phosphate (P2O5) and potash (K2O) and their interrelationships in double cropped, mono-cropped, grassed and barren lands under two (medium and low) land situations. Results revealed that organic carbon content, in general, was one of the prime factors in regulating most of the chemical properties of the soil. It varied from 0.20 to 0.48% among the land uses and was considerably higher in double and monocropped lands. Organic matter decreased pH in general and ECe of the cropped lands as well, which varied from 0.4-1.9 d Sm-1 indicating low salinity under these land uses. SAR and CEC were found to be relatively higher in low lands because of high clay content and the crop management practices. Thus both organic carbon and CEC played role in lowering ECe. But, CEC increased linearly (r=0.67) with the increase in pH as well as organic carbon (r=0.66). However, as far as nutrient availability is concerned phosphate and potash availability was considerably higher in cropped lands.

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