Different Fractions of Sulphur, Their Correlations with Soil Properties and Yield of Soybean and Safflower Influenced by Long Term Fertilizers Experiment under Vertisol

Abstract

Sulphur is an important element in Indian soils, and it has been found as a major limitation for increasing the oil seed productivity. The results emerged out from experimental field showed that 100% NPK + FYM @ 5 t ha-1 recorded significantly maximum fractions of sulphur, namely organic sulphur (37.13 mg kg-1), non-sulphate sulphur (118.28 mg kg-1), water soluble sulphur (12.28 mg kg-1), heat soluble sulphur (1.45 mg kg-1) and total sulphur (153.65 mg kg-1) followed by only application of organic manuring as FYM @ 10 t ha-1. Different sulphur fractions exhibited negative correlation with pH and EC while, found positive significant with organic carbon, available N, P, K and S. Similarly, soybean and safflower both crops produced higher yields of grain (18.30 and 8.66 q ha-1) and straw (28.70 and 27.73 q ha-1), respectively. However, higher N (131.80 kg ha-1), P (26.27 kg ha-1), K (56.44 kg ha-1), S (15.43 kg ha-1) and Zn (253.90 g ha-1 ) uptake were observed by soybean whereas,  N  (54.43 kg ha-1), P(16.47 kg ha-1), K( 69.90 kg ha-1), S ( 11.29 kg ha-1 ) and Zn (162.19 g ha-1) were observed by safflower in application of 100 % NPK + FYM @ 5 t ha-1.