COPPER STATUS AND ITS RELATION WITH SOIL PROPERTIES IN PEA GROWING SOILS OF HIGH HILLS DRY TEMPERATE ZONE OF HIMACHAL PRADESH

To study the status of copper in pea growing soils of high hills dry temperate zone of Himachal
Pradesh, a total of 140 soil and plant samples each were collected from 28 locations with five samples
from each location. The soil and plant samples were collected from the same spot and due attention
was given to select a site that plant must be varying in their growth conditions. The soils are neutral
to alkaline in reaction with pH from 6.2 to 10.3, sandy loam to sandy clay loam in texture, high in
organic carbon content (4.2 to 40.8 g kg-1), high calcium carbonate content (0.1 to 14.4 %) and high
in CEC (3.5 to 62.0 C mol (P+)/ kg) with an average values of 7.6, 18.3, 2.0 and 18.4, respectively.
The total-Cu in soil varied from 4 to 92 mg kg-1 with an average value of 43 mg kg-1. It was highest
in Kinnaur valley (50 mg kg-1) followed by Udaipur valley (45 mg kg-1) and least in Spiti valley (34 mg
kg-1). The mean values of DTPA-Cu were 1.1, 1.0, 0.9, 0.4 and 0.7 mg kg-1 in Udaipur, Pattan,
Gondhla, Spiti and Kinnaur valley, respectively, only 8.6 per cent of soil samples were found deficient
in DTPA-Cu. Wide variations plant copper observed from 1.0 to 56.0 mg kg-1 with an average value
of 12.0 mg kg-1. The percentage of deficiency and toxicity in pea plants were observed to be 12 and
18 %, respectively. . DTPA-Cu showed the significant and positive correlation with organic carbon
and clay content of the soil. The soil pH and CaCO3 had the negative and significant correlation with
the DTPA-Cu. Soil pH was the major contributing factor, which resulted in 11 per cent of total
variations in DTPA-Cu. The organic carbon and CaCO3 content was the second most property,
which contributed significantly to a level of 4 per cent each, respectively