PJB-2004-68
SEASONAL VARIATION IN SOIL AND FORAGE MINERAL CONCENTRATIONS IN SEMIARID REGION OF PAKISTAN
ZAFAR IQBAL KHAN, ALTAF HUSSAIN, M. ASHRAF, EHSAN ELAHI VALEEM*1, M. Y. ASHRAF** AND MUHAMMAD SAEED AKHTAR
Abstract
The rationale for this study was to determine soil and forage mineral concentrations as affected by season and location of collection with regard to satisfying grazing sheep nutrient requirements. Forages and soil samples were collected fortnightly during winter and summer seasons from three grazing areas within the same farm. Forages and soils (for soils only extractable nutrients) were analyzed for calcium (Ca) magnesium (Mg), potassium (K), and sodium (Na). It was found that location of collection of forages had little effect on Ca, Na or K forage concentrations, but forage Mg was high in location II during the summer season. In general, all sites of collection were associated with soils with adequate Ca and Mg concentrations, while soil with Na and K were uniformly low. In relation to grazing sheep requirements, all regions were generally adequate with forage levels of Ca, Mg and K, however, Na was deficient in both soil and forage in all locations except Na in soil in location III during summer.
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