International Journal of Environment and Climate Change

Soil fertility is one of the important components for better citrus fruit production and produce quality. Soil with lower fertility status imposed a big threat to achieving higher citrus productivity. In this regard, the management of major and micronutrients is essential for the sustainable productivity of citrus in high-yield orchards. Thus, measurement of soil fertility status can provide an efficient way to develop strategies for citrus production. Therefore, the present study was conducted to assess the macro and micronutrient status in the citrus-producing area in medium black soils of Madhya Pradesh. For this purpose, a high-intensity survey was conducted and 65 soil samples at depths of 0-20 and 20-40 cm were collected from well-established orchards and analyzed for soil pH, EC, organic carbon content, N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Zn, Cu, Fe, Mn and B content. Descriptive statistics were calculated for exploratory analysis of data. Results showed that in depth of 0-20 cm, soil pH ranged from 6.83 to 8.84 with a mean value of 7.70, EC varied from 0.07-0.34 dS m^-1 (0.18 dSm^-1), organic carbon (OC) 0.13-0.89% (0.45%), available nitrogen N102-288 kg ha^-1 (mean 186 kg ha^-1), available P 7-76 kg ha^-1  (mean 29.7 kg ha^-1),  available K 259- 775 kg ha^-1 (mean 474 kg ha^-1), Ex Ca 1406-4568 mg kg^-1 (mean 2784 mg kg^-1), Ex Mg 461-1799 mg kg^-1 (Mean 1033 mg kg^-1), available S 5.6-30 mg kg^-1 (Mean 16.7 mg kg^-1). Mean available Zn, Fe, Mn, Cu, and B were 0.95, 16.6, 11.3, 1.12, and 0.75 mg kg^-1, respectively. At the lower depth (20-40 cm), soil pH was slightly higher while soil EC and SOC was slightly lower compared to the upper depth. All the major and micronutrients were lower in subsurface (20-40 cm) as compared to surface depth (0-20 cm) except Ex Ca content which was higher in subsurface depth. Correlation analysis revealed that soil pH was negatively and significantly correlated with available P, Ex. Mg, available Zn, Fe and Mn while soil EC was positively correlated with available P, Zn, and Cu. Orchard soils were found to be suboptimal for available N, K, Zn, Cu, and Mn. So, for attaining high production and sustainable production integrated nutrient management practices should be opted.