The Status and Release Behaviour of Potassium as Influenced by Soil Moisture Regime

The influence of soil moisture regime (USDA Soil Taxonomy) was studied on status and release behaviour of potassium in two soil families i.e. sandy and coarse loamy. The soils of aridic moisture regime was richer in all forms of K and total extractable K obtained during successive extractions. More than 50 per cent of total K released was extracted during first extraction in coarse loamy soils while it was only 35 per cent in sandy soils. The step K showed a similar trend of distributions as those for total extractable K and various forms of K. It had a positive significant correlation with organic carbon (r =0.85*) and sesquioxide (r = 0.56*). The combined contribution of these two factors accounted for 89 per cent towards step K.