Vol. 6, Issue 7, Part D (2020)

Abstract
This study was conducted to evaluate the soil fertility status of associated soils of selected villages in Nagpur district of Maharashtra and its relationship with important physico-chemical characteristics, macronutrient and micronutrient content of surface soils. The villages under study were, Shemda and Umtha from Narkhed tahsil and Dhurkheda from Katol tahsil of Nagpur district. Total 150 surface soil samples (0-20 cm) were collected, which includes 50 samples from each village. The soil of selected villages Shemda, Umtha and Dhurkheda are clayey in texture, having bulk density varied from 1.23 to 1.57 Mg m^-3 and hydraulic conductivity of soils varies from 0.70 to 1.30 cm hr^-1. The soils of study area were neutral to slightly alkaline in reaction with no salinity hazards. The organic carbon content in these soils showed low to moderately high in category (0.20 to 0.79%). The CaCO₃ content categorized under slightly to moderately calcareous in nature which ranges from 1.00 to 5.37 per cent. The soils of Shemda, Umtha and Dhurkheda villages were observed in very low to medium in category for available nitrogen (107.8 to 347.6 kg ha^-1), medium to high in category for available phosphorous (13.0 to 35.6 kg ha^-1), high to very high for available potassium (254.0 to 394.0 kg ha^-1) and low to medium for available sulphur (6.65 to 20.0 mg kg^-1). The soils of study area is low to medium in DTPA-extractable iron (2.11 to 9.00 mg kg^-1), moderately high to high for copper (0.18 to 1.72 mg kg^-1) and manganese (4.02 to 8.46 mg kg^-1). The DTPA-extractable zinc was very low to moderately in category (0.20 to 1.86 mg kg^-1). Correlation study revealed that, the yield is positively and significantly correlated with organic carbon (r= 0.545**), hydraulic conductivity (r= 0.521**) and available macronutrients like nitrogen (r= 0.539**), phosphorous (r= 0.501**), potassium (r= 0.289**) and sulphur(r= 0.316**). It also shows positive and significant correlation with DTPA-extractable micronutrients like iron (r= 0.354**), copper (r= 0.423**), manganese (r= 0.451**) and zinc and (r= 0.460**). The increase in organic carbon leads to increase in N, P, K and S.