Sulphur is a multivalent non-metal, abundant, tasteless and and odorless. In its native form sulphur is a yellow crystalline solid. In nature it occurs as the pure element or as sulfide and sulfate minerals. Sulphur occurs in volcanic and sedimentary deposits, as well as being a constituent of many minerals and petroleum. It is normally a bright yellow crystalline solid, but several other allotropic forms can be made. Sulphur is an ingredient of gunpowder, and is used in making matches and as an antiseptic and fungicide. Rice (Oryza sativa), edible starchy cereal grain and the grass plant (family Poaceae) by which it is produced. Roughly one-half of the world population, including virtually all of East and South east Asia, is wholly dependent upon rice as a staple food,95 percent of the world's rice crop is eaten by humans. Rice is cooked by boiling, or it can be ground into a flour. It is eaten alone and in a great variety of soups, side dishes, and main dishes in Asian, Middle Eastern, and many other cuisines. Other products in which rice is used are breakfast cereals, noodles, and such alcoholic beverages as Japanese sake.

No abstract

A pot experiment was conducted with thirty soils of varying characteristics for selecting the most suitable chemical extractant for available sulphur. Rice variety CAU-R1(Tamphaphou) was grown in pots treated with and without sulphur for eight weeks. At harvest dry matter of rice was recorded. The average dry matter yield increased significantly @30 kg ha-1 levels of S application. Sulphur in the soils was extracted with four different extractants. The extractable S of the soils varied considerably with the soils and the extractant used. In term of the efficiency of extraction,the extractants were in the order : 500 ppm Ca(H2PO4)2.H2O > 0.5M NaHCO3 > 0.5M NH4OAc > 0.15% CaCl2. Available sulphur extracted by 0.5M NH4OAc showed the highest correlation with Dry Matter Yield (0.510882**) , Total Plant Uptake (0.548974**), Bray’s % Yield (0.514887**), Bray’s % Uptake (0.70565**).Therefore,0.5M NH4OAc extractant was rated as most promising extractant for assessing S availability for rice in acid soils of Manipur. pH (-0.12481, -0.04153837, 0.15850443, -0.02106*), EC (-0.2696*,-0.08246, -0.21701*,-0.28734*),CEC (-0.27441*, -0.24183*, -0.18531, -0.28287*), sand (-0.00152, -0.0166 , -0.10168, 0.121165), silt (-0.00858 , -0.15039, -0.10699, 0.030722), Ca2+ (-0.1528, -0.1056 , 0.007184 , -0.09847) and Mg2+ (-0.27248*, -0.16614, -0.07896, -0.24056*) had negative correlations with all extractants of S. The positive relationships of almost all extractants of sulphur with clay texture (0.040966, 0.20296*, 0.306651**,-0.0879), organic carbon(0.096396, 0.32224**, 0.201351*, -0.09377), nitrogen (0.036851, 0.203472*, 0.24579*, -0.06179), phosphorus (0.301882**, 0.268273719*, 0.322386047**, 0.209681*) and potassium (0.023932, -0.00667852, -0.04825616 , 0.079524) were observed.