An economically mobile device for the on-site testing of soil nutrients by studying the spectrum

Abstract

Soils should supply nutrients to the plants in accessible forms, in the right level as well as in the absence of toxic substances. The ability of soils to provide nutrients in these required forms is known as soil fertility. It is very crucial to know a way to estimate the soil fertility and so soil fertility plays a vital role in sustainable agriculture. Soil analysis is used for evaluating the availability of nutrients present in a soil sample. Soil analysis helps the farmers or agricultural producers to identify the needed fertilizers and its quantity that should be supplied to the plant for a profitable crop production. The most commonly used method for soil analysis is chemical analysis but it is time consuming, laborious, high costs processes. With the evolution of applied science, several methods have been discovered for the analysis of soil traits. Spectroscopic methods had shown to be a cost-effective, fast, eco-friendly, nondestructive, and repeatable analytical technique for soil analysis. Our project is to develop a cost effective technique and instrument for the analysis of soils in situ to detect nutrients excess and deficient in the sample. The equipment under development is expected to be a useful addition to increase the profit and reduce the risk of small and medium scale farmers across the world. Infrared spectroscopy (IR) has already developed as a popular as well as rapid method to evaluate the fertility of soil. It is precise to organic as well as inorganic materials present in the soil sample. IR spectrum provides significant information about all chemicals present in the soil sample including macro and micro nutrients. In the agriculture and food industry, spot identification of elements are very important. This can be done using nanomaterials based on optical sensors. We apply spectroscopic methods along with the latest commercially available sensors and computational facilities to develop an economical, user convenient, IT enabled appliance for rapid and effortless soil sample analysis.