STUDY OF PHYSICOCHEMICAL PROPERTIES AND NUTRIENT CONTENT OF AGRICULTURAL SOILS OF CHITTOOR DISTRICT USING DIFFERENT ANALYTICAL METHODS

 Objective: The objective of this study is to determine the physicochemical properties and nutrient content of agricultural soils at various stations such as black soil from Kalroad Palli village (Chandragiri mandal), red soil from Ramapuram village (Ramachandrapuram Mandal), and clay from Yerpedu village (Yerpedu Mandal) of Chittoor district.Method: The physicochemical parameters such as pH was measured using pH meter (Thermo Scientific); electrical conductivity (EC) was measured by conductivity meter (CM180 Elico Technologies); organic carbon (OC) was determined by Fourier-transform infrared (Agilent technologies 630) and with ultraviolet (UV) spectrophotometer (Agilent technologies Cary UV 60); nitrogen (N2) was estimated by Kjeldahl method; potassium (K), sodium (Na), and calcium (Ca) were estimated using flame photometer (Elico Technologies CL/361); and magnesium (Mg) was estimated by titrimetric method.Results: Among these, pH (black soil - 7.41, red soil - 6.93, and clay - 7.29), EC (black soil - 1.76, red soil - 0.25, and clay - 0.14 microhoms), OC (black soil - 1.22%, red soil - 0.61%, and clay - 0.66%), N2 (black soil - 0.22%, red soil - 0.25%, and clay - 0.26%), K (black soil - 5.7 ppm, red soil - 9.1 ppm, and clay - 8.4 ppm), Na (black soil - 9.5 ppm, red soil - 4.5 ppm, and clay - 5.9 ppm), Ca (black soil - 6.2 ppm, red soil - 5.7 ppm, and clay - 7.8 ppm), Mg (black soil - 0.19%, red soil - 0.25%, and clay - 0.17%) ranges were recorded at all the stations.Conclusion: The present study is a preliminary attempt to study the nature of soils in different agricultural areas in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh, India. This could help to understand the nutrient profile of the district and to prescribe the nutrients levels of the crops for their effective growth