INVESTIGATION OF RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN AVAILABLE BORON AND SOIL PROPERTIES

Soil formation processes and cropping and management practices affect plant-available amounts of boron (B) in soils. Using Pearson's correlation and principal component analyses, this study investigated the relationships between soil properties and plant-available boron concentrations in 69 soil samples. In principal component analysis (PCA), 73.079% of the variance was explained with four components. Plant-available B in the soil was significantly correlated with phosphorus, potassium, pH, and electrical conductivity (EC), showing that phosphorus and potassium fertilizer producers would be adding boron to fertilizers, although it is not mentioned on their packages. Also, the tide correlation between B and either soil pH and EC was attributed to greater solubility B, pH and EC. The majority of the experimental soils were deficient in boron. Therefore, boron fertilizer must be added to the fertilization program to mitigate the losses caused by boron deficiency in low-input agricultural production fields.