International Journal of Agriculture, Environment & Biotechnology
Citation: IJAEB: 7(3): 507-515 September 2014
DOI Number: 10.5958/2230-732X.2014.01355.2
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Soil Science
Nutrient Release Pattern of Different Boron
Fractions in Maize Growing Sandy Loam Soils
M. Naveen Saviour* and P. Stalin
Department of Soil Science andAgricultural Chemistry, Tamil NaduAgricultural University, Coimbatore-641 003, Tamil Nadu,
INDIA.
*Corresponding author: agri_naveen@rediffmail.com
Paper No. 236
Received: May 21, 2014
Accepted: July 17, 2014
Published: September 5, 2014
Abstract
An understanding of soil boron occurring in various forms and their release behaviour in soils needs to be examined extensively in major
soil series. A laboratory incubatios study was conducted to study the release pattern of boron fractions under maize growing sandy loam B
deficit soils with different levels of B as 0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 kg ha -1 were replicated thrice in a completely randomized design. The soils
were incubated at field capacity for a month (30 days) period and destructive sampling was done at intervals viz., 0, 7, 15, 21 and 30 days
after incubation. B fractions viz., specifically adsorbed, oxide bound, organically bound and residual B in soil were determined. The results
revealed that with applied boron, the non-specifically adsorbed B fraction was higher next to residual form when compared to other forms of
boron. Applied B converted to soluble form and attained peak values at 21 days after incubation in the treatment with application of 2 kg B
ha-1 and thereafter a decrease was noted. Irrespective of location, the plant available form of B includes non- specifically adsorbed B fraction
which was considerably higher (1.03 and 1.0 mg kg -1 mg kg -1 ) on 21st day after incubation (contributed towards 0.02 and 0.01% of total B)
which coincides with the high demand for B by maize crop during vegetative phase. The data’s also revealed that the contribution of residual
boron to total boron was the highest among the B fractions.
Highlights
  • Non-specifically adsorbed B fraction was higher next to residual form in a coarse textured B deficit soil with graded dosage of
    applied boron.
  • Irrespective of location, the plant available form of B which includes non-specifically adsorbed B fraction was considerably higher
    at three weeks after incubation.
    Keywords: Boron, B levels, fractions, field capacity, maize
    Boron is an essential micronutrient, when at elevated
    organic B-complexes (Gu and Lowe, 1990) and adsorbed
    concentrations in the soil can become toxic to plants.
    B on carbonate minerals (Goldberg and Forster, 1991).
    Boron in soils can exist as labile species in the soil
    Non labile forms include B isomorphouslv replacing Al 3+
    solution and less labile forms such as non-specifically
    or Fe 3 in (oxy) hydroxides in tri tetrahedral sheets of
    adsorbed B on phyllosilicate clays (Goldberg et al.,
    phyllosilicate clays (Hingston, 1964) and B in primary
    1993), specifically adsorbed B on variable charge oxides
    minerals, such as tourmaline, or secondary minerals, such
    and (oxy) hydroxides (Goldberg and Glaubig 1985),
    as colemanite. Boron is retained in soils by adsorption