Abstract            Volume:8  Issue-10  Year-2020         Original Research Articles

Online ISSN : 2347 - 3215 Issues : 12 per year Publisher : Excellent Publishers Email : editorijcret@gmail.com

Despite being required in small quantities, micronutrients are important for sustainable crop growth, and their deficiency and toxicity can affect crop yield. However, fertilizer recommendation for crops in Ethiopia is mainly for macronutrients. Nitrogen and phosphorus in the form of urea and DAP are the major fertilizers applied by smallholder farmers in the country. But, continuous applications of only macronutrients may cause rapid depletion of micronutrients in the soil. Therefore, this study was conducted to assess the status of micronutrients and map its spatial distributions in Agamsa watershed, Ethiopia. Accordingly, nine composite soil samples were collected from the surface soil layer (0-30cm) for the analysis of micronutrients iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), zinc (Zn), and copper (Cu). These micronutrients were extracted with diethylene triamine pentaacetic acid (DTPA) and then determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometer in comparison with standards at 248.3nm, 279.5nm, 324.7nm, and 213.9nm wavelengths for Fe, Mn, Cu, and Zn, respectively. Arc Map 10 with the spatial analyst function of ArcGIS software was used to prepare nutrient maps. The study shows that the concentrations of extractable Fe, Mn, Zn, and Cu ranged from 7.25 to 16.55, 5.62 to 15.47, 0.7 to 5.70, and 1.66 to 4.12mg kg-1, respectively. Based on the soil nutrients critical values, the concentrations of extractable Fe, Mn, Zn, and Cu were found to high, medium, medium to high, and low to medium, respectively. To strengthen this result, future research should focus on plant sample analysis and calibration of micronutrients with plant response.

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