Fate of gypsum-sulphur applied to soybean on Typic haplustepts

Field experiments were conducted on the sulphur-deficient Typic Haplustepts of the IARI farm for two consecutive, kharif seasons viz. 1996 and 1997 with soybean cultivar Pusa 22 as the crop. Varying rates of S as gypsum were basally applied in the main plots adjacent to the micro plots (1 m x 1 m) to quantify the partitioning of the fertilizer-sulphur taken up by soybean and its distribution in the soil profile. Soybean responded to the application of sulphur, with increase in yield being obtained up to rate of 40 kg S ha-1. Data computed on distribution of the S derived from labelled gypsum and percent S utilization by the soybean crop increased from 13.23 and 4.15 to 23.41 and 6.39, respectively. During 1996, the per cent utilization of labelled S ranged from 5.6 to 8.8. Monitoring of added sulphur in the soil profile up to a depth of 1 m revealed maximum accumulation of the added S in 30-60 cm soil layer. With the help of 35S around 11 to 18 per cent of the added S was traced in 60-100 cm soil layer. It can be concluded from the data for two years that during kharif season the application of S through water soluble sources like ammonium sulphate and ammonium phosphate sulphate should be avoided because even S from the sparingly soluble gypsum migrated to a depth of 1 m during the cropping season. (author)