Extent of boron adsorption and its relationship to soil properties in some West Indian soils

Laboratory experiments were conducted on 13 West Indian soils to study the extent of B‐adsorption and relate it to soil properties. Boron adsorption was studied by equiliberating soils with relatively low levels of B in solution (up to 5 ppm B). Boron adsorption by these soils could be satisfactorily described by Langmuir equation. Boron adsorption maxima (b) varied more than 10 fold between these soils but the values were much lower than those reported from other tropical areas. The highest correlation of b was with cation exchange capacity (CEC) but other soil properties like clay, organic C, amorphous iron oxides and exchangeable Ca were also significantly related to b. Stepwise regression analysis showed that CEC was the most important factor and accounted for 61% of the variation in b. Cation exchange capacity, amorphous Al, pH and exchangeable Ca together accounted for 87% of the total variation in b.