Manual of Soil, Plant and Water Analysis

AUTHOR'S: Tahir Ali and Sumati Narayan
PUBLISHER: Daya Publishing House
ISBN: 9788170355939
YEAR: 2009
PAGES: 196
SIZE: 14.5 X 22.2 X 1.2 cms.
BINDING: Hard
LANGUAGE: English

ABOUT THE BOOK: The book manual of soil, plant and water analysis is essential for agricultural and horticultural courses in Colleges and Universities. Also it finds its importance in Fisheries (for pond soil) Sericulture (for mulberry cultivation) and Animal Sciences (for fodder cultivation). Explanations, descriptions, procedures and calculations of results are arranged systematically in easy language so that this guide can be used by laboratory personnel with a wide range of education level. Also basic values and factors needed for calculating results are given in each method so that no extra books and tables are normally required, although some exceptions could not be avoided.
The book is suitable to establish a soil, plant and water testing laboratory and/or test the soil, plant and water. The basic purpose here is to help in making the fertilizer recommendations for optimum crop production.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR'S:
1. Dr. Tahir Ali started his career in 1993, as Soil Surveyor in Water and Power Consultancy Services India Limited (WAPCOS), thereafter worked for Maharashtra Hybrid Seed Co. Ltd., India (MAHYCO) as Officer quality control from 1995 to 1998. He joined Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir as Assistant Professor, in the Division of Soil Science on 24-11-1998 and is presently working as Associate Professor since 03-07-2002. He has 10 years of teaching experience and has guided 3 M.Sc. and 2 Ph.D. students. He has published 25 Research papers in various journal of repute.

2. Shri Sumati Narayan has passed B.Sc. (Ag.) from Kanpur University and M.Sc. (Ag.) from Agronomy in Meerut University inl988.He worked as an Extension Officer in a NGO for two years, about one year as SMS thereafter he joined as SRF in Agronomy Department of G.B.PUA&T Pantnagar in 1992. He came in Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir as Assistant Professor (Vegetables) in April, 2002. He possess 8 years experience of extension, 16 years of research. He has published 20 research papers in various journal of repute.

CONTENTS:
Foreword
Preface

1. Soil Testing and Fertility Management
    1) Definition
    2) Objectives
    3) Importance and facilities
    4) Methods of soil fertility evaluation
        i. Microbial test for determining soil fertility
            1. Azotobacter plaque test
            2. Aspergillus niger test
            3. Cunninghamella plaque method
        ii. Chemical methods for evaluating soil fertility
            1. Qualitative test
            2. Rapid plant tissue tests
            3. Quantitative test
            4. Vegetative methods
                a. Visual diagnosis of deficiency symptoms
                b. Use of indicator plants
    5) Phases of soil testing
        i. Instrument Used
        ii. Sampling procedure
        iii. Dispatch
        iv. Sample preparation
        v. Analysis
            1. Soil texture
            2. Electrical conductivity
            3. pH
            4. Calcariousness
            5. Organic carbon
            6. Available nitrogen
            7. Available phosphorus
            8. Available potassium
            9. Available secondary nutrients
            10. Available micronutrients
            11. Lime requirement
            12. Gypsum requirement
    6) Interpretation and fertilizer recommendations

2. Methods of Soil Analysis
    1) Determination of available nutrients
        i. Determination of organic carbon
            1. Titrimetric method
            2. Colorimetric method
    2) Determination of available nitrogen
        i. Alkaline potassium permanganate method
        ii. Calcium hydroxide method
        iii. Incubation method (Kenny and Bremrer, 1962)
        iv. Nitrate-N by pheno Disulphonic acid method
        v. Ammonium-N by colorimetric method
    3) Determination of available phosphorus
        i. Olsen's method
        ii. Bray's and Kurtz method
    4) Determination of available potassium
    5) Determination of available sulphur
        i. Monocalcium phosphate extractable S (Ensminger, 1954)
        ii. Turbidimetric method (Massoumi and Cornfield, 1963)
        iii. Ammonium acetate-acetic acid extractable S
        iv. Colorimetric method for determi¬nation of available sulphur using Barium Chromate (Palaskar et al., 1981)
        v. Determination of exchangeable calcium and magnesium
    6) Determination of exchangeable sodium
    7) Determination of Available Iron, Manganese, Copper/ Zinc (DTPA extractable) by Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer
    8) Determination of available zinc
        i. Ammonium acetate dithizone extraction method
    9) Determination of available manganese
    10) Determination of available copper
    11) Determination of available iron
        i. Colorimetric extraction method
    12) Determination of available molybdenum
    13) Determination of available boron
        i. Curcumin method

3. Testing for Edaphic Chemical Properties
    1) Soil texture
        i. Determination of texture
            1. Hydrometer meter
            2. International pipette method
    2) Determination of bulk density of soil
        i. Core sampler technique
        ii. Sand pouring technique
        iii. Paraffin cold technique
    3) Determination of Soil Reaction (pH)
        i. Colorimetric method
        ii. Potentiometric method
    4) Determination of electrical conductivity
    5) Determination of cation exchange capacity
    6) Determination of calcium carbonate
        i. Rapid tifration method
    7) Determination of lime requirement of soil
        i. Shoemaker et al. method
    8) Determination of gypsum requirement of soil

4. Plant Analysis
    1) Analysis of plant tissue
    2) Nitrogen
    3) Dry ashing
    4) Wet ashing
    5) Determination of phosphorus
        i. Vanadomolybdate method
    6) Determination of potassium
    7) Determination of calcium and magnesium
    8) Determination of micronutrient cations (Zn/ Mn, Cu and Fe)
    9) Determination of boron
    10) Determination of molybdenum
    11) Interpretation of plant analysis of data

5. Advance Methods of Soil and Plant Analysis
    1) Plasma atomic emission spectrophotometer
    2) Nitrogen analyzer as a tool for nitrogen estimation (ICAP-AES)

6. Analysis of Irrigation Water
    1) Analysis of irrigation water
        i. Collection of water samples
            1. Sampling of water
    2) Analysis of waters
        i. pH
        ii. Total soluble solids
            1. Gravimetric method
        iii. Electrical conductivity
        iv. Carbonates and bicarbopates
        v. Chloride
        vi. Sulphate
        vii. Boron
        viii. Nitrate-nitrogen
        ix. Calcium and magnesium
            1. Calcium
            2. Magnesium
        x. Sodium and potassium
            1. Potassium
        xi. Residual sodium carbonate (RSC)
        xii. Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD)
        xiii. Chemical oxygen demand (COD)

7. Laboratory Facilities
    1) Laboratory equipments
    2) Glassware and plasticware
    3) Chemical and solutions

Appendices
References
Index