ORGANIC CONTENT OF SOIL

OBJECTIVE:

Determination of Organic content of soil

EQUIPMENT:

Oven-thermostatically controlled to maintain the temperature between 105 C and 110C

volumetric flask (capacity 1L)
Burettes (25ml capacity)
Pipettes (10ml & 1ml capacity)
Conical flasks (500ml capacity)
Graduated measuring cylinder
Reagents-ferrous sulphate,0.5N solution dissolve approximately 140g of ferrous sulphate
in 0.5N sulphuric acid to make 1 ltr of solution (14ml of conc. H2SO4 to 1ltr distilled
water)

Standardization of ferrous sulphate solution:

10ml of normal potassium dichromate add to a 500ml conical flask.20ml of conc. H2SO4 added
and swirled.200ml of distilled water and 10ml of phosphoric acid and 1ml of indicator are
mixed.ferrous sulphate solution shall be added from second burrete in .5ml increment until
solution becomes blue to green. A further 0.5ml of potassium dichromate shall then added to
change colour black to blue.
Soil sample:
Air dried sample selected for this purpose (W1), should be passed through 10mm sieve (W2). The
sample shall be placed in glass weighing bottle, a small quantity of sample is transferred to dry
500ml conical flask, the weighing bottle reweighed and the equivalent weight on oven-dry basis
of soil removed, calculated by difference and allowing for moisture content of soil.
10ml of potassium dichromate solution shall be put into conical flask and add 20ml of H2SO4.
The mixture is mixed thoroughly and the allow to stand for 30 minute for oxidation of organic
matters.100ml of distilled water ,10ml orthophosphoric acid and 1ml indicator are added.
The mixture shall vigorously.If the indicator absorbed by soil further 1ml added.ferrous sulphate
solution is added,until colour changes from blue to green.now potassium dichromate is added to
change colour from black to blue.

PROCEDURE
Done it in two methods
W.R.E. PUNE Method
IISC Bangalore Method
1. IISC BANGALORE METHOD

Weigh 1 g of 2 mm sieved soil or sediments into 500 mL conical flask.

Add 2 mL 1N K2Cr2O7 solution and shake to mix.

Add 4 mL conc. H2S04 from side of the flask.

Keep the content for 30 minutes undisturbed.

Now add 2mL H3PO4 and 20 mL distilled water and shake vigorously.

Add 2 drops of diphenylamine indicator that gives violet colour.

Titrate against 0.5N FAS solution till the colour changes from violet to bright green via
blue. Note down the volume of the solution used.

2.

Carry out a blank titration in a similar manner without soil.

PUNE METHOD:

Weigh 0.25 gm. of 0.5 mm sieved soil into dry 500 ml conical flask. Add 2.5 ml of
K2Cr2O7 into the flask.

Add rapidly with a burette 5 ml conc. H2SO4 and swirl gently until soil and reagents are
mixed then more vigorously for one minute.

Allow the reaction to proceed for 15 min on asbestos sheet to avoid burning of table due
to release of intense heat due to reaction of Sulphuric acid.

Add slowly 50 ml of distilled water, 2.5 ml of concentrated orthophosphoric acid and add
about 0.1 gm NaF and allow the sample to stand for 10minutes. The titration end point is
clear in a cooled solution.

Just before titration add 1 ml ferroin indicator into the conical flask. Titrate the excess
K2Cr2O7 with 0.5 N ferrous ammonium sulphate till the colour flashes from yellowish
green to greenish and finally brownish red at the end point.

Simultaneously blank test is run without soil.

OBSERVATION AND CALCULATION:

IISC Bangalore Method:
Weight of the sample(S) = 1.0 g
Volume of FAS used in blank titration (X) = 12.5 ml
Volume of FAS used to oxidise soil sample (Y) = 14.7 ml
Normality of FAS = 0.5 N
1 ml OF 1N K2Cr2O7 = 0.003g of organic carbon
Organic Content of soil (%) =

( XY ) .003 100
2S

Organic Matter(%)= Soil carbon(%)1.724.

Pune Method:
Weight of sample(S) = 0.25 g
Volume of FAS used in blank (X) = 6.9 ml
Volume of FAS used to oxidise soil sample (Y) = 5.5 ml
Normality of FAS = 0.5 N
1 ml OF 1N K2Cr2O7 = 0.003g of organic carbon
100
% organic carbon = (B-S) xNx0.003x weight of soil(oven dry )
Organic matter(%)= Soil carbon(%)1.724.

RESULTS:
% Organic
Content

% Organic Matter
0.5689

IISC
Bangalore
Method

0.33

1.44
Pune Method

0.84

DISCUSSION:
% Organic Carbon

Rating

<0.40

Low

0.40 to 0.60

Medium

>0.75

High

At low organic carbon contents, the sensitivity of the water retention to changes in organic
matter content was highest in sandy soils. Increase in organic matter content led to increase of
water retention in sandy soils, and to a decrease in fine-textured soils. At high organic carbon
values, all soils showed an increase in water retention.
CONCLUSION:
As per the IISc Bangalore method, organic content percentage is 0.56892 % which lies in the
medium category also from the pune method the organic content percentage is 0.84 % which is
lies in the high organic content category. Therefore as there are some discrepencies in the results
we follow IISc Bangalore method which is lesser of both.