Assessment of Soil Property Distribution Along Topographical Gradients and Its Association with Boron Fractions in hilly region of Churachandpur district, Manipur, India

Soil, a vital component of sustainable agriculture, is influenced by topographical factors such as elevation, slope gradient, and slope position, all of which play a crucial role in determining nutrient distribution and soil characteristics. In light to the above constraints, distribution study based on the characterization of soil physicochemical properties and boron fractions were undertaken in three different blocks of varying altitude in Churachandpur district of Manipur. Soil samples were collected from three distinct blocks viz., Churachandpur, Singhat and Henglep which varies topographically through two-staged sampling methods and analysed for various soil properties. The investigation revealed strongly acidic to slightly acidic pH, low electrical conductivity value with low to high organic carbon content besides being lower cation exchange capacity. However, the boron variant showed transformation dynamics in terms of percentage as Residual boron (67.35%)> Organically bound boron (18.75%)> oxide bound boron (14.84%)> Readily soluble boron (0/94%)> specifically adsorbed boron (0.89%), respectively. The PCA-based analysis revealed that RES-B and OX-B are the most significant factors influencing soil boron fractions in Churachandpur district, Manipur, India. The characterization and transformation study of boron fractions, would simplify on developing effective strategies for soil resource management in hilly areas.