Assessing Suitability of Different Extractants for Estimating Plant Available Boron in Lateritic Soils (Alfisols)

ABSTRACT

The depth-wise distribution of plant available boron (B) extracted by dilute HCl (HCl), tartaric acid (TA), hot calcium chloride (HCC), hot water (HW), ammonium acetate (AA), Ammonium Bicarbonate-Diethylene Triamine Penta Acetic acid (AB-DTPA) and mannitol calcium chloride (MCC) in some acidic lateritic soils (Alfisols) of Birbhum, West Bengal, India, was examined in relation to their physicochemical properties and grain yield, concentration and removal of B by rice grain to screen out the most suitable extractant for lateritic soils. The highest overall mean B concentration of surface soils (0.325 mg kg⁻¹) was obtained by 0.05 M HCl, whereas its lowest content was obtained by MCC (0.145 mg kg⁻¹) and with increasing depth its content was decreased for all the extractants used. The sequence of B extraction by various extractants was as follows: HCl > TA > HCC > HW > AA > AB-DTPA > MCC. Higher extractability of HCl is due to lower pH and attendant dissolution of soil minerals. Most often, decrease in organic carbon, clay, CEC, amorphous iron and aluminum oxides or increase in manganese oxide contributed to the observed drop in B along soil depth. The B extracted by different extractants showed significant positive correlations among themselves. The HCl extracted B showed the highest correlation with grain yield, concentration, and removal of B by rice grain. The HCl extractable B enhanced adjusted R² value in multiple regression equation, boosting the predictability of the model. Thus, in acidic lateritic soils (Alfisols), the 0.05 M HCl is the best extract for estimating plant available B.

KEYWORDS:

• Correlations
• extractants
• lateritic soils
• Plant available B
• rice
• soil properties

Acknowledgements

The authors are highly thankful to the Head of the Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Institute of Agriculture (Palli Siksha Bhavana), Visva-Bharati, and the farmers of the Birbhum district of West Bengal for their kind help in conducting the experiment smoothly.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Authors’ contributions

Study conception and design: Manik Chandra Kundu; collection, preparation, and analysis of soil samples: Mamta Sahu; analysis and interpretation of results: Mamta Sahu, Mohammed Nisab C.P.; draft manuscript preparation: Mamta Sahu and Mohammed Nisab C. P.; review and editing the manuscript: Manik Chandra Kundu; overall supervision: Manik Chandra Kundu.

Availability of data and materials

The data that support the findings of this study will be available from the corresponding author, Dr. Manik Chandra Kundu ([email protected]), upon reasonable request, and after all derived papers from this research are published.

Additional information

Funding

No funding was obtained for this study.