Author(s)

Jamal T. Elfaki¹, Ahmed M. Nour², Magboul M. Sulieman^3*, Mushtaha E. Ali⁴

¹Faculty of Agriculture, Nile Valley University, Atbara, Sudan.
²Agricultural Research Corporation, Wad Medani, Sudan.
³Department of Soil and Environment Sciences, University of Khartoum, Khartoum, Sudan.
⁴General Administration of Natural Resource and Sustainable Development, Khartoum, Sudan.

The influence of the short storage periods at different temperatures on the concentrations of extractable soil cations (Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, Na⁺ and K⁺) and anions (Cl^-, SO₄^- and PO₄^- ) has been investigated in nine soil samples from Nile river terraces at River Nile State, North of Sudan (17.82289 to 17.82389N and 33.99974 to 34.02127E). Each soil extract is divided into three treatments: i) control (immediately analyzed); ii) storage for 10 days and; iii) storage for 30 days. Each treatment is replicated three times: i) storage at 10°C; ii) storage at ambient laboratory temperature (25°C) and; iii) storage at 45°C in incubator. Statistical analysis of results reveals that significant difference are found at level (P < 0.05) for K⁺, Mg2⁺, Ca2⁺, Cl^-, SO₄^- and PO₄^- (0.043, 0.002, 0.001, 0.021, 0.004 and 0.001) respectively at 25°C and 45°C and storage periods of 10 and 30 days. In contrast, significant difference is also found at level (P < 0.001) for soluble calcium, magnesium and sulphate. In addition, results also reveal that SO₄^- concentrations are significantly decreased when the storage period exceeds 10 days and temperature more than 25°C. Depending upon our study results; we conclude that, all extractable inorganic nutrients are clearly affected by storage periods at various temperatures, exception of Na⁺. Most cations and anions are increased significantly with increased of storage period and temperatures. We therefore highly recommend that the extractable inorganic soil nutrients should be rapidly analyzed in order to obtain accurate results; otherwise, the time between extraction and analysis should be carefully recorded which may help considerably interpreting data from various studies.

River Nile State, Extractable Soil Cations, Storage Period, Inorganic Nutrients

Elfaki, J. , Nour, A. , Sulieman, M. and Ali, M. (2016) Influence of the Storage Duration at Different Temperatures on the Concentrations of Extractable Inorganic Soil Nutrients. Journal of Agricultural Chemistry and Environment, 5, 66-72. doi: 10.4236/jacen.2016.52007.