The present dissertation work was undertaken to study the depth wise distribution of boron in some soils of red & laterite zone of West Bengal. Soil samples were collected from five representative locations from three different depths (15cm, 30 cm and 45cm) randomly and analyzed to study the status of B and its different fractions and the relationship between different B fractions and their relationship with soil properties. The available B recoveries from all the selected surface soils were in low to deficient ranges (0.50±0.25 mg kg-1 soil) and total B recoveries ranged from 30.90±23.53 mg kg-1 soil. The recoveries of different B fractions from the surface soils were observed within ranges of 0.22-0.31 (readily soluble B), 0.45-0.56 (specifically adsorbed B), 0.38-0.88 (oxide bound B), 0.30-0.87 (organically bound B) and 11.32-60.66 (residual B) mg kg-1. All the boron fractions decreased with increasing depth of soil except residual B fraction which increased with soil depth. The recoveries of the hot water extractable B was significantly correlated with the recoveries of total B, residual B, oxide bound B and readily soluble B. Readily soluble B and specifically adsorbed B were significantly and positively correlated with each other. The available B was significantly and positively correlated soil pH, clay, available N, P, K, Fe, Mn and amorphous Fe and Al oxides. It was observed that all the B fractions had significant and positive correlation with clay content, available N and P and amorphous Fe and Al except organic B fractions which was highly correlated with organic matter content of the soil. The results emanating from the study revealed that the soils were low in available B content and only minute fraction of total B is available to plant.

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