~ 2412 ~ International Journal of Chemical Studies 2018; 6(3): 2412-2417 P-ISSN: 2349–8528 E-ISSN: 2321–4902 IJCS 2018; 6(3): 2412-2417 © 2018 IJCS Received: 19-03-2018 Accepted: 24-04-2018 Das A Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India David AA Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India Swaroop N Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India Thomas T Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India Rao S Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India Hasan A Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India Correspondence Das A Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India Assessment of physico-chemical properties of river bank soil of Yamuna in Allahabad city, Uttar Pradesh Das A, David AA, Swaroop N, Thomas T, Rao S and Hasan A Abstract The present study was conducted to assess the physico-chemical characters of Yamuna river bank soil at four sampling locations viz. Near Baksi Moda (L1), Karelabug (L2), New Yamuna Bridge (L3) and Near Fort (Sangam) (L4) in Allahabad city. Soil samples were collected from these 4 different stations for a period of 3 months (December’2017 to February’2018). The investigation revealed that the Physico- chemical status of the Yamuna River bank soil is fluctuated according to the prevailing environmental conditions. pH of soil across the sampling stations ranged between 6.61 ± 0.15 to 7.24 ± 0.24. Among all the stations the available nitrogen contain varies from 67.06 ± 1.82 kg ha -1 to 115.26 ± 6.55 kg ha -1 , the available phosphorus content varies from 2.83±1.39 kg ha -1 to 12.39± 6.26 kg ha -1 and potassium content 44.8 ± 11.20 kg ha -1 to 93.93 ± 39.33 kg ha -1 . The organic carbon values fluctuated from 0.2 ± 0.09 percent to 0.84 ± 0.20 percent. Sulphur concentration varies from 19.66 ± 13.97 mg kg -1 to 187.61±74.20 mg kg -1 . Soil texture of all the four sampling location was sandy in nature. Cluster analysis grouped four sites in three major clusters depending on the river bank soil characters and prevailing environmental conditions. Keywords: Yamuna River, Allahabad, physico-chemical, soil, cluster analysis Introduction Rivers are one of the most precious elements of nature sustaining the mother Earth. Rivers play a major role in integrating and organizing the landscape, and molding the ecological setting of a basin. They are the prime factors controlling the global water cycle and in the hydrological cycle they are the most dynamic agents of transport (Raj and Azeez, 2009) [28] . Every year rivers carry a huge amount of top soils from its river bank area and deposit it in another part of its bank. In monsoon, due to flood it carries and deposit the maximum amount of soil in its bank; basically, these soils are alluvial in nature and also called as sediment. Sediment is the source of all nutrients in the river bank and most fertile for agricultural purposes. River Yamuna is the largest tributary of the Ganga River in North India. Its total length is around 1370 kilometers. Yamuna originates from the Yamunotri Glacier of Uttar Kashi in Uttar Pradesh and flows through the states of Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, before merging with the Ganges at Sangam in Allahabad city. It is considered that approximately 57 million people depend on the river for their regular basic needs (CPCB, 2006) [6] . In the world, Yamuna is one of the most polluted rivers, especially along the Delhi segment, where about 22 drains discharge waste water into the river (CPCB, 2006; MOEF, 2013; Paul et al., 2014, Misra, 2010, Parmar and Singh, 2015) [6, 21, 27, 20. 25] .The nutrients and pollution causing agents can easily transfer from water to soil and vice- versa. Good soil health ensures sustainable agriculture and ecological balance. The physico-chemical characters of water of Yamuna and other river waters have been assessed from time to time at different places by many workers (Singh et al., 2005; Singh et al., 2008; Suthar et al., 2010, Misra, 2010, Parmar and Singh, 2015) [25, 31, 36, 20, 25] . Mandal et al. (2015) [25] has investigated physico-chemical properties of contaminated soil samples from four segments (Himalayan, Upper, Delhi, and Eutrophicated) of Yamuna riverbed. Very little previous investigation was found on physico-chemical properties of soil of Yamuna river bed. Moreover, studies have not been conducted previously on the physico-chemical properties of soil of Yamuna river bed of Allahabad city. Therefore, present study has been designed to investigate soil quality in selected sites along the