COMPARATIVE STUDY OF NUTRIENT DYNAMICS IN OLD HIMALAYAN PIEDMONT SOIL UNDER DIFFERENT LEVELS OF LIME

Abstract

A study was conducted to evaluate the effect of liming in Himalayan piedmont soil on nutrient dynamics under different levels of lime in mungbean field followed by T. Aman cultivation, during the period of December 2010 to october 2011. Five levels of lime were applied, viz, T;: control, T,: 1.0, T3: 1.5, T4: 2.0, Ts: 2.5, t lime ha’. The pH of soils after liming were increased steadily with the increased rate of liming. The different treatments were showed differently where more plant nutrients became available by increasing the concentration of K, Ca, Mg, N, P, S, B, Cu and Mn and slight decreased in the concentration of OM,Fe and Zn that make the soil environment favorable for plant growth. The changes of soil properties like pH, OM and some plant nutrients availability were significantly increased due to application of lime resulted in increased summer mungbean yield. The number of pods plant’, number of seeds pod”, 1000 seeds weight and grain yield were significantly affected by liming . The treatment T (1.5 t lime ha") produced mugbean grain yield of 1.6 t ha’' respectively which was significantly greater than those found in T;, T>, T, and T; treatments. Thus, the application of 1.5 t lime ha’' is recommended for the cultivation of summer mungbean and the desired soil pH (>6.5 but < 7.0), which increased availability of nutrients in the study area. The study revealed that liming increases soil pH as well as changes other chemical properties of soil, which is beneficial to sustain high yield and may be an important soil management tool for mungbean cultivation in acid piedmont soil in the North Weast Bangladesh where soil acidity is the common.