Soil bulk density and its impact on soil texture, organic matter content and available macronutrients of tea cultivated soil in Dibrugarh district of Ass

Bulk density of a tea estate soil depends on the soil structure. It increases with soil depth due to the low content of total organic matter content. The principal objective of this work was to investigate the dependence of bulk density on texture, total organic matter content and macronutrients for the tea estate soil of Dibrugarh district. The relationship between some physical and chemical properties of soil such as, sand content, total organic matter content and macronutrients with bulk density were studied for sixty surface soil samples (0-15 cm) from ten tea estates. The sand, silt and clay content of soil samples ranges 74.87-88.24, 0.02-0.04 and 11.74-25.11 % respectively; the values of bulk density for the tea estate soil vary from 0.98-1.29 g cm-3; soil pH varied from 4.60 to 5.57 ; electrical conductivity varied from 0.09 to 0.47 dS m-1 ; total organic matter content ranged 1.86 to 3.09 % ; available nitrogen status varied from 178 -297 kg ha-1; the average phosphorous content varied from 5.90 to 19.00 kg ha-1 and available potassium content in the soils ranged 214 to 291 kg ha-1. Soil bulk density showed negative relationship with soil pH, electrical conductivity, total organic matter and macronutrients but showed positive relationship with sand content.