Soil and foliar sulfur status in some tea plantations of Sri Lanka

A field survey was carried out to determine the soil and leaf sulfur (S) status in some tea estates where urea based fertilizer mixtures had been used continuously for more than ten years. Fourteen tea estates in Ratnapura, Passara, Kottawa, and Deniyaya regions were selected for this study. Five extractants were used to extract soil-S. The results indicate that the mean soil S varied from 22 to 229 mug g(-1) at 0-15 cm depth. The range of extractable-S extracted by ammonium acetate, KCl, NaHCO3, Ca(H2PO4)(2) and water for Deniyaya, Kottawa, Passara, and Ratnapura regions varied from 18-91, 18-55, 13-302, and 15-455 mug g(-1), respectively, at 0-15 cm soil depth. Linear correlation coefficient between the five extractants was low. The total leaf S varied from 0.12 to 0.41% in the locations studied.