Soil Fertility Mapping using GPS and GIS in Jhabua District, Madhya Pradesh, India Rathore Amar Singh1, Sharma Y.M., Tagore G.S., Nagwanshi Anil1, Jayaraman Somasundaram1,* Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya, College of Agriculture, Jabalpur, 482004, Madhya Pradesh, India 1Present address, ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil Science, Berasia Road, Nabibagh, Bhopal, 462038, Madhya Pradesh, India *Corresponding author (Email: somajayaraman@gmail.com)
Online Published on 16 January, 2024. Abstract A study was carried out to determine fertility status in tribal dominated Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh. For this purpose, about 303 GPS based surface soil samples (0-15 cm) were collected from 5 different tehsils namely Jhabua, Meghnagar, Petlawad, Ranapur and Thandla of Jhabua. Soils samples were analyzed for pH, EC, organic carbon (OC), CaCO3 and available nutrients (N, P and K). Soil analysis data indicated that the soil pH, EC; soil organic carbon (SOC) and CaCO3 varied from 5.42 to 7.95; 0.05 to 0.58 dS m-1; 1.04 to 13.92 g kg-1 and 5.0 to 125.0 g kg-1 with mean values of 6.86; 0.21 dS m-1; 5.14 g kg-1 and 53.33 g kg-1, respectively. The available N, P and K contents in soils varied from 100 to 432 kg ha-1; 1.05 to 65.8 kg ha-1 and 97.7 to 971 kg ha-1, with mean values of 221; 18.3; and 293 kg ha-1, respectively. Results revealed that about 69.6, 38.0 and 57.8 percent soil samples of the region were deficient in N, P and K, respectively. It was observed that pH had significant positive correlation with SOC (r=0.15*). Electrical conductivity (EC) had significant positive correlation with K (r=0.13*). The SOC had significant positive correlation with available N (r=0.14*), but it had significant negative relationship with CaCO3 (r= -0.19**). The results highlighted that geo-referenced soil samples collection and characterization of soils greatly helped in preparation of soil fertility maps prepared using GIS platform (ARC GIS 10.1). This in turn helps in sitespecific nutrient/fertilizer recommendation, balanced application of nutrients for soil health management and sustaining crop productivity in the tribal dominated Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh. Top Keywords Major nutrients, Mapping fertility maps, GIS, GPS, Nutrient deficiency. Top |