EDXRF Analysis of Soil Samples to Study the Role of Trace Elements in Optimizing the Yield

The crops always demand the best composition of soils for them to grow well and so the multielemental study of soil is essential for the betterment of crop production. The EDXRF technique has been used for multielemental analysis of the soil, under study. The soil samples investigated here were treated already with macro, micro and biofertilizers. The concentrations of eight trace elements namely V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu and Zn have been determined in soil samples. The grain yields of wheat and rice crops were obtained and it has been found that the yields depend strongly on the given treatments and the concentrations of the trace elements in the soil. Some of the micronutrients like Zn, Cu, Fe and Mn have shown the major role in the productive yields. The concentration equations of the eight trace elements as a function of atomic number were fitted using the cubic spline method. The equations may be useful for database purpose and the cross validation can be done in subsequent years to obtained more accurate empirical relation for the studied soil.