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The knowledge of different sulphur (S) forms and their relationship with soil properties is of much relevance in assessing the short- and long-term availability of the nutrients to crops and in formulating sound fertilizer recommendations. For this purpose one hundred and one representative soil samples were collected from the study area and analyzed for various physicochemical properties and forms of sulphur (water soluble, exchangeable, available, organic, non-sulphate and total S) using standard methods. The different forms of sulphur viz., water soluble, exchangeable, available, organic, non-sulphate and total sulphur ranged from 1.1 to 7.0, 1.9 to 10.9, 3.1 to 21.1, 75.9 to 316.1, 8.0 to 41.5 and 75.5 to 372.5 mg kg-1, respectively in soils of Outer Himalayas under different land uses. The content of different forms of sulphur present in these soils were in the order of total sulphur, organic sulphur, non-sulphate sulphur, available sulphur, exchangeable sulphur and water soluble sulphur. All the forms of S correlated positively and significantly with organic carbon and clay content of soils. A negative and significant relationship was also observed between all forms of sulphur and sand content of soils. In the present study, it was also found that all forms of S present in soils were significantly and positively correlated with each other. The knowledge regarding different forms of S in soils and their availability controlled by different soil properties will be helpful for its management to optimize crop yields in the Outer Himalayas of Himachal Pradesh.

The current investigation was conducted to study the fractions of sulphur in nine districts of low and mid hills of Himachal Pradesh. For this purpose 31 representative soil sampling sites were selected from nine districts and the soil samples were analyzed for physicochemical properties and different fractions of sulphur (water soluble sulphur, exchangeable sulphur, available sulphur, non-sulphate sulphur, organic sulphur and total sulphur). The results indicated that the total sulphur in soils varied from 98.2 to 470.1 mg kg-1 in surface soil (0-15 cm) and 67.2 to 370.7 mg kg-1 in sub-surface layer (15-60 cm). The organic sulphur varied from 80.5 to 401.1 mg kg-1 in surface and 44 to 306.1 mg kg-1 in sub-surface layer. The water soluble sulphur, exchangeable sulphur, available sulphur and non-sulphate sulphur varied from 1.7 to 9.2, 2.7 to 18.4, 4.5 to 27.6 and 10.2 to 58.9 mg kg-1 respectively in surface soil and 0.5 to 5.4, 1 to 17.7, 3.7 to 23.5 and 12.5 to 50.2 mg kg-1, respectively in sub-surface soil. It was observed during course of study that with increase in the soil depth the content of different fractions of sulphur decreased. These soils had the major part of their total sulphur content in organic form followed by non-sulphate sulphur, available sulphur, exchangeable sulphur and water soluble sulphur. It can be concluded that the soil texture and organic carbon content played a major role in determining the quantity of different fractions of sulphur in these soils.