Dynamics and distribution of potassium in the soils of Patiala district of Punjab

The study was carried out during 2017–18 in Patiala district of Punjab. One hundred georeferenced surface soil samples were collected from five tehsils (Nabha, Patiala, Patran, Samana, and Rajpura) of Patiala district to assess the four forms of potassium and their relationship with major soil properties of soil. The overall soils were neutral to slightly alkaline with normal range of EC values and CaCO₃ content having sandy clay loam to loamy sand textural class. The results registered that the mean values for water soluble K, exchangeable K, non exchangeable K, lattice K and total K were 14.0, 176, 467, mg kg⁻¹, 1.40% and 1.46% respectively. The precision correlation of different forms of potassium was positively correlated with electrical conductivity (EC), organic carbon (OC) and clay percent. Similarly highly significant and positive relationships were observed among different forms of potassium. While soil properties showed that pH, calcium carbonate content, and sand and silt particles were negatively correlated with all the forms of soil K.