Forms and Dynamics of Soil Potassium in Acid Soil in the Wolaita Zone of Southern Ethiopia

Abstract

Quantity-intensity (Q/I) characteristics are among conventional approaches for studying potassium dynamics and its availability. This was assessed to determine availability in four districts: namely, Sodo Zuria, Damot Gale, Damot Sore, and Boloso Sore, at three different land use systems (enset-coffee, crop land, and grazing land). Fractionation and dynamics of K sources were studied in soil samples, which were collected from 0–20 cm depth of each land system. The study revealed that water extractable K (H2O-K) concentrations ranged from 0.13 to 0.34 cmolc kg−1 soils at enset-coffee and grazing land use systems, respectively, and had a mean value of 0.28 cmolc kg−1 soils ammonium acetate extractable (NH4OAC-K) and nitric acid extract (HNO3-K) had a mean value of 0.25 cmolc kg−1 soils. In this study, the means of nonexchangeable- and exchangeable-K concentrations were of 0.11 and 0.14 cmolc kg−1 soils for land use types. Significant correlations were found between soil properties and Q/I parameters and among equilibrium solution parameters and Q/I parameters. There was no significant variation among the mean quantity values of the soils. The soils had higher change in exchangeable-K and potential buffering capacity than the enset-coffee land use soils, and the cop land had the highest values for these parameters. However, the enset-coffee land use soils had higher K-intensity. Therefore, application of site specific soil fertility management practices and research can improve soil K status and Q/I parameters to sustain productivity soils.