Variation of Soil Fertility with Diverse Hill Soils of Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh

Abstract

This study was carried out to evaluate chemical and nutritional properties in high, medium and low hill soils of three hilly district of Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh. There were 30 hill sites and every hill site was a different hill with changeable slopes. A total number of 90 soil samples were collected from surface from three position of each hill for analysis. Results showed that chemical and nutritional properties varied for different hills. Mean values of soil pH, organic matter, total N, total P, Ca, Mg, K, S, B, Cu, Fe, Mn and Zn of three different hill soils ranged from 5.00 to 5.35, 1.82 to 2.19 %, 0.09 to 0.17 %, 3.44 to 5.24 mg kg-1, 2.19 to 2.82 mg 100g-1, 1.39 to 1.62 mg 100 g-1, 0.29 to 0.49 mg 100 g-1, 5.97 to 10.85 mg kg-1, 0.23 to 0.25 mg kg-1, 0.24 to 0.67 mg kg-1, 44.48 to 67.63 mg kg-1, 16.28 to 20.84 mg kg-1, and 0.44 to 0.71 mg kg-1. Individually high, medium and low hill soils showed variation in chemical and nutritional properties for different sites. From this result it is assessed that the soils are generally poor in organic matter and nutrients as well as poor in fertility status.