Over and above the optimum use, there might be antogonistic interactive effect of micronutrients over potash fertilizer, so as the

plant may shown its deficiency symptoms

Please check wether the plots that show K deficiency lies in higher elevated area, Because of which the nutrients may be leached out into nearby area.

here i wanna check the textile effluents effcet on wheat growth.Have you any idea or material on this aspect?

Probably ........Pls. check the non exchangeable pools in the soil. It may happen the non exchangeable pool is laready deficiency, so even if you are applying potash in high amount it may first replenish the pool and then it will contribute to the exchanged phase and further on to soil. Also check the Calcium Magnesium content of the soil. If these contents are high in soil as well as in the lattice, potassium may be held tightly held by the wedge zone occupied by calcium. As because the requirements are not met the plants are showing deficiency symptoms. Also find whether the soil is acidic (your experimental area) due to Iron (lateritic). If so Fe may replace potassium structurally under acidic soil condition.Therefore potassium gets block by surface and hence non available to plants. The Fe fact I have experienced in Fe induced high acidic soils in Balurghat. Please respond.

what do you mean by high dose potato already require high dose of K may be in that plot dose may be low as required by the crop an other factor is texture if high clay that might be fixed on soil particles and not be available for the crop

Pls. check the Fe, Ca , Mg content of those particular plots. Are these plots in same field. Was there any difference in yield of previous crops from the specified plot area. check whether the plots are in same elevation.

Dear Indranil Your opinion is quiet right. In this year I like to study different pool of Potassium in this soil.

Thanks. Pls study all the Pools of Potassium separately. Also determine Fe, Ca , Mg content of the soils. Then we can have at least an idea to what was the cause.

Indranil Das, you are absolutely right, that the soils which show high content of calcium and magnesium content posses low amount of pottasium, but i have found in that even such soils have low amount of nitrates and phosphates too, could find out the reason that is it high calcium and magnesium content which interferes or some other reason is there

Try foliar spray of potassium sulphate at 0.5 per cent concentration on potato crop to check up whether the K deficiency of the crop could be corrected. Simultaneously, conduct an soil + K fertilizer incubation study under laboratory condtions keeping the moisture content constant in respect of different doses of K fertilizer applied to soil. At the end of incubation period, estimate available K content. The data would provide you the K release pattern from the soil. K deficiency is common in coarse textured soils. Also, the response to K might be alltogether different when you change the test crop. For instance, maize crop may not suffer from K deficiency unlike potato.

may be inherent variability, it could also due to the levels of Fe and Al in the soil. You did not give the pH value of the plot .

I ma not a agri graduate, but do you think enhancing the microbial population holistically by increasing the carbon content will help over come such issues. At farmer level such complexities will only push him away from keeping interest in agriculture. Please advise.

Dear Manish, The application of organic matter of plant and animal origin would certainly solve the problem of correcting nutrient deficiencies including potassium deficiency as cited in this context. The organic matter contains potassium which is released due to intense microbial activity as the microbes feed on the organic matter and on mineraalization process the nutrients are released which are absorbed by the higher plants for their healthy growth and development. Whereas, application of chemicals such as potassium chloride and potassium sulphate to soils wouild destroy the microbes and create an nutrient imbalance both in soils and crops. Organic matter application provides holistic nutrition to crops.

Dear Dr. Kunuthur, In case of low organic matter availability or expensive what would you advise to enhance the microbial population ? Again, what is more advisable broadcasting biomass in the soil and to allow it to decompose on its own with natural cycle or conduct aerobic digestion before broadcasting in the farm. Considering the cost, appropriateness of actions in digestion etc.

What is the appropriate carbon level in the soil ? We have heard from 6 to 20%.

As a substitute for conventional organic matter, mix up equal quantities of fresh fish (cut in to small bits) and jaggery powder in a plastic container and thoroughly mix up twice a day and keep it for 7 days covering with a cotton cloth to provide aeration, gas exchange and promote aerobic bacterial activity. on 8th day, take out 2 ml of the mixture and dilute to one litre with water and use it as foliar spray on any crop. This formulation is an excellent organic fertilizer to supply nitrogen to crops. Likewise, there are as many as fourteen formulations which can be applied to soil or as foliar spray.on crops.

Dear Tapan, have you done soil testing on plots with potassium deficiencies and where you don not have this problem? this might help identify where the problem is