Assessment of physico-chemical and chemical properties of soils under turmeric growing sites of Nizamabad District, Telangana

Introduction

Turmeric is one of the major commercial crop which is grown around 9284 ha (Turmeric outlook, April 2025) in Nizamabad district, Telangana. The current status of soil nutrients presents a complex and pressing challenge in global agriculture. Imbalances in soil nutrient levels ranging from severe depletion in some regions to excessive accumulation in others are threatening long-term soil fertility, crop yields, and environmental sustainability (FAO, 2021) [3] . As turmeric is grown in vast area in Nizamabad district there is a need to study the nutrient status of the soils under this crop. However, vital macronutrients are necessary for crop growth, phosphorus for increasing the oil content, indicating its influence on both yield and quality parameters and potassium enhances rhizome yield, curcumin content, and dry matter accumulation in turmeric (Singh et al., 2010) [16] . It is already known that the nutritional properties of soil are the basic attributes that influence the growth, development, and productivity of crops by directly affecting nutrient availability, root health, and overall soil fertility. Hence, the present study was taken up in the major turmeric growing soils of Nizamabad district with an objective to assess the physico-chemical and chemical properties of the soils.

Materials and Methods Location and site characteristic of study area

The study area was Nizamabad district. It is situated between 18°04'4.8" and 19°00'54" of Northern Latitude and 77°31'41" and 78°40'1.2" of Eastern Longitude. Nizamabad district is surrounded by Nirmal district to the north, Nanded district (of Maharashtra) to the west, Jagtial and Rajanna Sircilla districts to the east, and Kamareddy district to the south and east. The district comes under semi-arid climate which receives an average rainfall of 1108 mm. The district experiences an average maximum temperature of 39.9•C and minimum temperature of 13.7•C with annual max. relative humidity varying from 82.71% max and min. of 50%. In order to delineate the detailed field wise physico-chemical and macronutrient nutrients status in the surface and subsurface soils, 40 surface (0-15 cm) and 40 subsurface (15-30 cm) soil samples were collected from Jakranpalle, Armoor, Balkonda, Mupkal, Velpur, Navipet, Dharpalle, Nandipet, Morthad, Makloor, Madnoor, Kammarpally and Srikonda mandals by using the quarter technique. The composite soil samples were packed and labelled properly in polythene bags and brought to the laboratory for further analysis.

Methods used for analysis

The collected soil samples were analysed for pH, EC and available N, P, K. pH and EC was estimated by the method using 1:2 soil water suspension (Jackson et al. 1973) [6] . Organic carbon was estimated by using Walkley and Black (1934) [19] rapid titration method. Available nitrogen was determined by using alkaline potassium permanganate method as given by Subbaiah and Asija (1956) [17] . Available Phosphorus was estimated by Olsen's extraction followed by Spectrophotometric method, available Potassium was estimated by Neutral normal Ammonium Acetate extraction followed by Flame photometric method. The data were statistically analysed using SPSS.

Results and Discussion

Physico-chemical properties

The pH (Table 1) of surface soils (0-15 cm) and sub-surface soils (15-30cm) ranged from 6.2 to 8.3 and 6.9 to 8.6 respectively, with the mean values of 7.5 and 8.1 respectively, indicating slightly acidic to slightly alkaline in nature. The lowest surface pH was recorded in Manal with pH 6.2 and highest surface pH 8.3 was recorded in Anksapoor. The lowest subsurface pH (6.9) was recorded in (Munipalle) and highest (8.6) was recorded in Chintalur. This shows that pH increases with increasing depth. The lower pH in surface samples was mainly attributed to the leaching of bases (Vasundhara et al., 2022) [18] . The EC (Table 1) of surface and subsurface soils ranged from 0.08 to 0.46 dS m-1 and 0.12 to 0.54 dS m-1 respectively, with the mean 0.31 and 0.40 dS m-1. The lowest surface value of EC (0.08 dS-1) was recorded in Munipalle and the highest EC (0.46 dS m-1) was recorded in Armoor. The lowest subsurface EC (0.12 dS m-1) was recorded in Munipalle and highest (0.54 dS m-1) was recorded in Siddapur. indicating all soils are non-saline in nature and increase in EC with increase in depth likely due to wash away of salts possibly due to light texture Arya et al. (2024) [1] .

Organic carbon

Organic carbon (Table 1) of surface and subsurface ranged from 4.80 to 8.50 and 3.60 to 7.83 g kg -1 respectively, with the mean values of 6.65 and 5.62 g kg-1 respectively. The lowest organic carbon (4.80 g kg-1) of surface soils was found in Sirnapally and highest (8.50) was found in Kothapalle. The lowest organic carbon in subsurface (3.60 g kg-1) was found in Sirnapally and highest (7.83 g kg-1) was recorded in Chinawalgot. All the soils were in the range of low to high in soil organic carbon (Malavath et al. 2019) [7] . This shows that there was a decrease in trend of OC with depth. This decline was likely due to higher inputs of decomposable organic material in surface compared to subsurface (Dinsa and Elias 2021) [2] .

Macronutrients

Available nitrogen (Table 2) in surface and subsurface was in the range of 143.10 to 389.50 kg ha-1 and 101.20 to 297.50 kg ha-1, with the mean values of 220.94 and 179.16 kg ha-1 respectively. Available nitrogen was low to medium in range. Surface soil of Kothapalle had highest value of 389.50 kg ha-1, while Sirnapally had lowest value (143.10 kg ha-1). Subsurface soil of Chintalur was recorded lowest (101.20 kg ha-1) and highest (297 kg ha-1) in Basheerabad. The low nitrogen content in the soil may attributed to perivious soil management practices and the inconsistent application of farymyard manure and fertilizers. Nitrogen is often the most limiting nutrient in soils due to its susceptibility to losses through fixation and volatilization. Additionally low organic matter content and elevated temperatures can accelerate the decomposition and loss of organic material, further exacerbating nitrogen deficiency. Similar results were reported by Reddy et al. (2021) [15] and Gurudev et al. (2024) [5] . The available P2O5 content (Table 2) of soils was low to high and varied from 19.74 to 69.97 kg ha-1 in surface samples and was varied from 14.69 to 60.11 kg ha-1 in the sub surface soils. With the mean values of 47.41 kg ha-1 in surface to 39.95 kg ha-1 in subsurface. In majority of the surface soil the available P2O5 was medium. Sirnapally has the lowest surface value of 19.74 kg ha-1 while Basheerabad has the highest value of 69.97 kg ha-1. Lowest subsurface value (14.69 kg ha-1) was found in Sirnapally and highest (60.11 kg ha-1) was found in Basheerabad. The lower phosphorus content in sub-surface which means decline in P2O5 with depth (Gowthamchand et al., 2023) [4] was caused by its fixation by clay minerals and iron and aluminum oxides (Gurudev et al., 2024) [5] . The semi-arid environment, combined with the continuous use of high-analysis fertilizers-particularly DAPwithout considering crop requirements and existing soil nutrient levels, has led to a buildup of phosphorus. This has contributed to the observed medium to high levels of available phosphorus in the soils of the study area (Kiran et al. 2021). The availability of K2O (Table 2) in soils ranged from low to high and varied from 132.30 to 356.80 kg ha-1-in surface soils and 114.80 to 326.60 kg ha-1 in sub surface soils with the mean values of 228.58 to 197.74 kg ha-1 respectively. Majority of soils were medium in available K2O. The lowest surface value (132.30 kg ha-1) was recorded in Munipalle, while the highest (356.80 kg ha-1) was recorded in Chinawalgot. The lowest subsurface value (114.80 kg ha-1) was found in Brahmanapalle and highest (326.60 kg ha-1) was found in Dammannapet. Available potassium generally decreased with depth, possibly due to potassic fertilizers. The results are in conformity with Pattnaik et al. (2025) [10] and Poojitha et al. (2024) [11] . More intensive weathering, release of labile-K from organic residues of cultivated crop plants and upward translocation of K from lower depths along with capillary rise of ground water. Similar results were reported by Pal and Mukhopadyay (1992) [12] .

Conclusion

Study revealed that turmeric growing soils of Nizamabad district, Telangana are slighty acidic to alkaline in pH and nonsaline in nature which were suitable for crop growth. The organic carbon was ranged from low to high. Available nitrogen was low to medium in ramge. Low to high in available phosphorus and potassium, majority of soils are medium in range and decrease in nutrients with increase in depth was observed. All the macro and micronutrients were positively correlated with organic carbon.

Acknowledgement

AcknowledgementsI extend my heartfelt gratitude to my advisor, Dr. G. Kiran Reddy, Assistant Professor, Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University, for his unwavering support, expert guidance, and thoughtful suggestions that were instrumental throughout the duration of this work. I also extend my gratitude to all the teaching and non-teaching staff of our department because without their support, I would not have been able to complete my work.

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