Yes, in arid soils we are regularly getting olsens available P status between 3 and 10 kg/ha where organic matter content is 0.2% and very low available N.

Even SAT Vertisols have low available P(< 5 mg/kg). Pal et al., 2012. Geoderma 189-190, 28-49.

thanks a lot, Dr. Tarafdar  and Dr. Pal.

Ms.Prerna which method  are you using to estimate P in Olsen's  extractant?When you are  estimating low/small amounts of available P by Olsen's method, the sensitivity of colorimetric method you are using  assumes importance.

Prerna , this could be realistic figure , but more realistic is , how realistically have we followed the procedural steps for Olsen-P estimation  

whats the reason for targeting at low Olsen P concentration?

Please give MORE information. You probably are working in an arid environment, is it not? Probably (please say either YES or NOT) you have a lot of calcium carbonate, even stones and/or sands. All these informations could respond to the question indicated by Prof. E. SCHNUG.

Dear Prerna, please note carefully that Dr. Pal has presented available P values of SAT vertisols in mg/kg soil. When converted, these values will be about

Ms.Prerna,normally Dickman and Bray1946 method is used for estimating P in Olsen's extracts.It is preferable to use more sensitive Ascorbic acid or Malachite green method to estimate vey small amounts of available P in soil.The following references may be consulted.

Watanabe F.S,Olsen,S.R.1965.Test of an ascobic acid method for determining phosphorus in water and NaHCO3 extracts from soil.Soil Sci.Soc.Am.Proc.29,677-678.

Subba Rao,A. et al.1997.Malachite green method compared to ascorbic acid for estimating small amounts of phosphorus in water,0.01M calcium chloride and Olsen soil extracts.Commun.Soil Sci.Plant.Anal.28,589-601.

all discussion is useless and wasted time  as long as we do not know whats Joshis intention!

Well said Ewald.

hello everyone. sorry for the delay in reply. I am estimating available P content of soil in a semi arid region. and I have employed Olsen's method (bicarbonate extraction, colorimetric determination) for estimation of the same. Some values are as low as 4 kg/ha, not all. I would like to recheck the data obtained with more sensitive methods.

and thank you everyone for the enlightening discussion.