Assessment of inorganic nitrogen fractions and available Nirogen in soils of eastern part of Yavatmal district in Vidarbha region

Introduction

The Yavatmal district is a prominent agricultural area within the Vidarbha region, sometimes referred to as Maharashtra's "Cotton District." The district encompasses a geographical expanse of over 13.52 lakh hectares, with nearly 9.61 lakh hectares dedicated to agriculture. Cotton, soybean, pigeon pea, and sorghum are the primary kharif crops, while wheat and chickpea are significant rabi crops. The region experiences an average yearly precipitation of approximately 926 mm, predominantly occurring during the monsoon period (Anonymous, 2024) [2] . The eastern part of Yavatmal district, comprising the talukas of Babulgaon, Kalamb, Ghatanji, Ralegaon, Maregaon, Kelapur, Wani, and Zari-Jamani. Nitrogen is an element that is consistently insufficient in soil compositions. It holds an essential position in many metabolic routes in plants and constitutes a significant part of proteins, nucleic acids, chlorophyll, and certain hormones. It has been estimated that about 85 percent of the total nitrogen is in an organically bound state (Aggarwal et al., 1990) [1] ; according to Walia et al. (1998) [13] , a smaller segment exists in inorganic forms, such as exchangeable NH₄⁺-N, NO₃⁻-N, and NO₂⁻-N. The persistent application of organic amendments in conjunction with fertilizers might promote the mineralization and immobilization of nutrients for plants (Srivastava and Lal 1998) [11] , consequently impacting the levels of various forms of nitrogen in the soil.

Materials and Methods

Yavatmal is a significant district within the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra and is located in the southeastern area of the state. The region is situated between 19°26' and 20°42' north latitudes and 77°18' and 79°09' east longitudes, corresponding to the Survey of India Toposheets 55-L, 55-P, 56-I, and 56-M. The district encompasses an approximate geographical expanse of 13,594 square kilometers and is bordered by Amravati District to the north, Wardha District to the northeast, Chandrapur District to the east, Nanded District to the southwest, and Adilabad District of Telangana State to the south and southeast. The current study was conducted in the eastern region of Yavatmal district, which includes eight talukas: Babulgaon, Kalamb, Ghatanji, Ralegaon, Maregaon, Kelapur (Pandharkawda), Wani, and Zari-Jamani. The research zone constitutes a significant agricultural expanse within the Vidarbha region, distinguished by its primarily black soils. The eighty corresponding surface soil samples (0-15 cm) were collected from selected fields of eight talukas. A 1:2.5 soil-water suspension was used to determine the pH and electrical conductivity of the soil (Jackson, 1973) [8] . Organic carbon was determined by the modified Walkley and Black method was followed by Jackson, (1973) [8] . Whereas calcium carbonate was estimated using rapid titration method described by Piper (1966) [10] . The available nitrogen was estimated through alkaline permanganate method as suggested by Subbiah and Asija (1956) [12] . Soil nitrogen fractions, viz., NH₄-N and NO₃-N were determined by the MgO-Devarda alloy steam distillation method described by Bremner (1965) [7] . [6,14] and Bhaskar et al. (2026) [4] . While electrical conductivity (EC) of the soil samples in the eastern region of Yavatmal ranged from 0.16 dS m⁻¹ to 0.42 dS m⁻¹, with the mean of 0.31 dS m⁻¹, the maximum EC of 0.42 dS m⁻¹ was recorded in the Wargaon village of Wani taluka, and the minimum EC of 0.16 dS m⁻¹ was observed in the Junoni and Akpuri villages of Ghatanji taluka. Bhokare and Wankhade (2025) [6,14] and Bhaskar et al. (2026) [4] reported similar levels of soil electrical conductivity. The organic carbon (OC) content in eastern parts of Yavatmal is low to moderately high, with a mean of 4.51 g kg⁻¹ ranging from the lowest 2.83 g kg⁻¹ in Shiroli village in Ghatanji taluka to the highest 7.10 g kg⁻¹ in the Keshav Nagar and Wargaon villages of Wani taluka. The present organic carbon results are consistent with the findings of Jangir et al. (2019) [9] and Bhagat et al. (2024) [3] , who also identified analogous changes in soil organic carbon concentration. The Mubarakpur village of Babulgaon taluka has the highest 9.88 percent calcium carbonate (CaCO₃) content, while the Konghara village of Kelapur taluka has a minimum of 4.00 percent CaCO₃ content. The mean CaCO₃ content in eastern regions of Yavatmal is 7.85 percent. The findings of CaCO₃ in the present study were comparable to those of Wankhade (2015) [14] .

Available nitrogen

The available nitrogen content of soil is presented in Table 3. In the soils of the eastern parts of the Yavatmal district, the status of available nitrogen is very low to low. The mean value of available nitrogen in the study area is 161.14 kg ha⁻¹, ranging from a minimum of 125.44 kg ha⁻¹, recorded in Wasri village of Ghatanji taluka, to a maximum of 198.68 kg ha⁻¹, recorded in Padha village of Kelapur taluka. The existing findings were similar to the outcomes reported by Jangir et al. (2019) [9] .

Conclusion

The present study assessed the available nitrogen and inorganic nitrogen fractions in the soils of the eastern part of Yavatmal district covering eight talukas and 80 surface soil samples. The soils were generally neutral to moderately alkaline, with low electrical conductivity and variable organic carbon and calcium carbonate contents. The mean soil pH, EC, organic carbon and CaCO₃ were 7.61, 0.31 dS m⁻¹, 4.51 g kg⁻¹ and 7.85 per cent, respectively. The available nitrogen status of the soils was found to be very low to low, with values ranging from 125.44 to 198.68 kg ha⁻¹ and a mean of 161.14 kg ha⁻¹. Considerable variation was also observed among the sampling locations. The inorganic nitrogen fractions showed mean NH₄⁺-N and NO₃⁻-N contents of 18.12 and 17.75 mg kg⁻¹, respectively, with ranges of 13.60-24.80 and 12.60-24.90 mg kg⁻¹. Overall, the study indicates that nitrogen is an important limiting nutrient in the agricultural soils of eastern Yavatmal. The variation observed in available nitrogen, ammonical nitrogen and nitrate nitrogen across the study area reflects differences in soil properties and nutrient dynamics. Therefore, proper assessment of soil nitrogen status and balanced nitrogen management based on local soil conditions are important for maintaining soil fertility and supporting sustainable crop production in the region.

Acknowledgement

The authors are highly grateful to the Associate dean, College of Agriculture, Dr. PDKV Akola, and Head, Department of Soil Science, Dr. PDKV, Akola for providing the necessary facilities to carry out this work.

References

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