KAUSHIK MAJUMDAR Potash & Phosphate Institute of Canada - India Programme Bd-42, Sector-1, Salt Lake City, Calcutta

S.K. BANSAL Potash Research Institute of India Sector-19, Dundahera Gurgaon, Haryana

SHAHID UMAR Dept. of Botany, F/O Science Hamdard University New Delhi

IPI

PATRICIA IMAS International Potash Institute c/o DSW, POB 75 Beer Sheva, Israel

Background:

• Red and laterite soils constitute 34.5 and 1.3 % of the geographical area in Southern India, covering 31.9 and 1.2 million Has. of agriculturally important soils, respectively
• Information on fixation and release of K in these soils is meagre because of dominance of kaolinitic minerals which have negligible influence on K dynamics
• Some studies have documented the K fixation potential of kaolinite (Barber, 1979; Jensen, 1973), which affects the K dynamics in soil and its availability to plants

Objectives:

• To study the release and retention behaviour of potassium in some bench-mark red and laterite soils of India for better potassium fertilizer management leading to sustainable crop production

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