Soil Fertility Mapping Using GPS and GIS in Jhabua District, Madhya Pradesh, India

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.