Physical and Chemical Properties of Hidimundige (Crown Choking) Affected and Healthy Arecanut Gardens of Chitradurga District, Karnataka, India

The present investigation was undertaken at College of Agriculture, Shivamogga during 2018-2019 to delineate the causes for hidimundige syndrome in arecanut. Soil samples from two depths 0 to 30 cm and 30 to 60 cm were collected at 60 cm away from the trunk of arecanut from both healthy and affected gardens of Holalkere, Hiriyur, Chitradurga and Hosadurga taluks. The collected soil samples were analyzed for various physical and chemical properties and also for macro and micro nutrients. The results of the investigation indicated that soils coming under affected gardens showed the high mean clay content than healthy gardens. There was a significant increase in bulk density of affected gardens compared to healthy gardens in Holalkere (from 1.63-1.84 Mg m-3) and Hosadurga (from 1.84-1.96 Mg m-3) taluk at lower depth. Whereas, the drainable porosity decreased significantly in affected gardens compared to healthy gardens of Holalkere (from 33.54-25.69 %) and Hosadurga (from 25.79-21.23 %) taluk at lower depth. In all taluks, majority of the soils from both healthy and affected arecanut gardens were neutral to alkaline in reaction. The study showed that availability of N, P, K, S, Fe, Mn, Cu and B and also the content of exchangeable Ca and Mg was quite heterogeneous in both healthy and affected gardens. Whereas, available zinc status in the soil showed significant decrease in affected gardens compared to healthy gardens of Hiriyur, Chitradurga and Holalkere taluks.