Distribution of cationic micronutrients in relation to different soil properties and fractions of phosphorus in coastal soils of West Bengal

This study aims to establish the relationships between cationic micronutrients and soil properties in 52 surface soils (0-15 cm) collected from coastal areas of West Bengal, India. The initial status of cationic micronutrients and their relationship with soil properties were also studied. The DTPA-extractable micronutrients namely, zinc (Zn), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn) and copper (Cu) ranged from 0.03-2.65, 5.59-68.4, 10.8-49.9 and 0.69-3.71 mg kg-1 with mean values of 0.65, 27.3, 33.7 and 1.71 mg kg-1, respectively. Different soil properties namely, pH, organic carbon (OC), electric conductivity (EC), cation exchange capacity (CEC), Olsen-P and different inorganic phosphorus (P) fractions were determined. Results showed a significant negative correlations between pH and Zn, Fe, Mn and Cu, whereas OC showed positive and significant correlations with Zn, Fe and Cu and non-significant positive correlations with Mn. The EC showed the non-significant negative correlations with Fe and Cu and non-significant positive correlation with Zn and Mn. Olsen-P showed the non-significant positive correlations with Zn, Fe and Cu and non-significant negative correlations with Mn. Results also revealed that CEC and EC enhanced the loosely bound-P explaining 47% of total variability. Loosely bound-P and reductant soluble-P showed the significant negative correlations with all the micronutrients. However, Al-P showed the significant positive correlations with Zn, Fe and Cu.