Author(s)

Ipsita Sarkar, Md. Zulfikar Khan^*, Md. Hanif

Soil, Water and Environment Discipline, Khulna University, Khulna, Bangladesh.

Assessment of soil organic matter fractions can be instrumental in understanding the causes of limited nitrogen supply, and thus soil fertility restoration. A study was conducted in cultivated and uncultivated saline soil, in order to assay soil organic carbon (SOC), its particle-size fractions and their influence on cultivation and soil fertility at Sundarbans costal area in Bangladesh. Soil samples were taken from the 0 - 15 and 15 - 30 cm depths from four cultivated fields and from four nearby sites in a native mangrove forest as references. Soil samples were physically fractionated into sand (2000-50 μm), silt (50-2 μm) and clay (<2 μm). Total SOC and N were analyzed in bulk samples and each size fraction, and the Carbon Management Index (CMI), a widely used indicator of soil quality, was calculated for each field. The CMI in cultivated soils was far below the 100% in reference soils, reaching 38.16%, 25.70%, 32.21% and 34.43% in Field 1, Field 2, Field 3 and Field 4 respectively. SOC and N concentrations decreased in particle size separates in the order clay > silt > sand. The SOC pool and N in the clay-sized fraction were correlated to soil fertility indicators. More N was stored in the silt + clay size fractions, a generally more stable pool, than in the more labile sand-sized pool. The SOC pool in sand size fractions was far below in cultivated soils than in a reference uncultivated soil. Thus, the sand-sized pool emerged as the most likely cause of limited N supply in cultivated soils.

Particle Size Fraction, Soil Organic Carbon, Nitrogen, Saline Soil

Sarkar, I. , Khan, M. and Hanif, M. (2019) Soil Organic Fractions in Cultivated and Uncultivated Soils of Costal Area in Bangladesh. Journal of Agricultural Chemistry and Environment, 8, 129-144. doi: 10.4236/jacen.2019.83011.