Micronutrient Status in Soil of Central India

Two major issues, i.e. large crop productions and huge anthropogenic activities (e.g. fuel burning and mineral roasting) disturb the micronutrient balance in the soil of India. In this work, the available and total status of eight micronutrients i.e. Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn, Co, Ni, Mo, and S of the soils in the most urbanized area: Raipur area, Chhattisgarh, India (extending over ≈ 2 × 104 km2) is described. The available status of micronutrients i.e. Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn, Co, Ni, Mo and SO42- in the soils (n = 100) was ranged from 30 - 8253, 205 - 2800, 2.0 - 8.1, 0.7 - 5.0, 2.2 - 31.2, 0.1 - 13.4, 0.1 - 8.9 and 41 - 747 mg/kg with mean value of (at 95% probability) 642 ± 186, 1178 ± 119, 4.3 ± 0.3, 2.3 ± 0.2, 12.8 ± 1.3, 3.9 ± 0.6, 1.5 ± 0.3 and 281 ± 25 mg/kg, respectively. The concentration variations, deficiencies and toxicities of the micronutrients in the soil are discussed.