Assessment of the Relationship Between Soil pH and Macronutrients at Baseshwor, Sindhuli

Abstract

Macronutrients are the nutrients required by plants in relatively large amount. Nutrients availability is dependent on soil reaction, which is one of the most important chemical parameters. This study was carried out in Baseshwor area of Sindhuli District to determine the relationship between soil pH and soil macronutrients: total Nitrogen, available Phosphorus, exchangeable Potassium, extractable Calcium, and extractable Magnesium. A total of 30 representative soil samples was collected from the Baseshwor area and were analyzed following the standard procedures. A simple linear correlation and regression were performed by using MS EXCEL  to compute the relationship between soil pH and the macronutrients. The result showed that there was a significant positive correlation between soil pH and total N (r=0.7310*), available phosphorus(r=0.6466*), extractable potassium (r=0.5569*), extractable Ca (r=0.6088*) and extractable Mg (r=0.5945*). Similarly, with the increase by one unit in soil pH; total N, available Phosphorus, exchangeable potassium, calcium, and magnesium increased by 0.3123, 72.29, 528.32, 906.37, and 108.42 units, respectively. It was also found that pH accounted for the change in about 53.4%, 41.8%, 31.0%, 37.1%, and 36.4% N, P, K, Ca, and Mg, respectively. Since most of the nutrients are available in the optimum pH range (6.5-7.5), maintenance of optimum soil pH is necessary for tackling the problems of unavailability of macronutrient from the soil in Baseshwor area, Sindhuli