Vol. 11, Issue 3 (2022)

Author(s):
Samikhya Bhuyan, Gayatri Goswami Kandali, Biplab Choudhari, Jadumoni Rajkhowa and Ipsita Pattanaik

Abstract:
The present study was carried out to evaluate the effect of management practices on soil acidity components in tea cultivation of Assam. Sixty numbers of soil samples were collected from two tea gardens of Golaghat district of Assam. Soil sample were analyzed for important soil chemical properties and different forms of acidity components using standard procedures. Conventional system was found to be more acidic than organic system although the pH was maintained at a favorable range for tea production. The Organic system was found to maintain higher levels of organic carbon than conventional system. The Total potential acidity was higher in both the management system. The value of total acidity was lower as compared to total potential acidity. Irrespective of depth all the acidity component were higher in conventional management system as compared to organic management, except pH dependent acidity which was higher in organic management. All the acidity components were found to decrease with depth and increase with age of plantations. Exchangeable acidity showed highly significant positive correlation with exchangeable Al both in organic (r=0.983**) and conventional (r=0.990). Highly significant positive correlation was found in between total potential acidity and pH dependant acidity under organic (r= 0.856**) and conventional (r=0.730**) management. The study showed that variation of acidity components were higher under conventional management which may be due to the dominant role of Al in these soils.