Secondary and Micro Nutrient mapping in forest soils of Kandhamal district, Odisha

Abstract

Emergence of widespread secondary and micro nutrient deficiencies have become major constraints of productivity. Farmers give hardly any emphasis on application of these nutrients. As a result decline or stagnation in production and productivity of many crops is observed creating a huge gap between the requirement and supply of food grains. For efficient soil and crop management soil test based fertilizer application is highly essential. major nutrient analysis is often done micro nutrient analysis is usually neglected due to prohibitive costs and expensive instruments. Data on soil micro and secondary nutrients status were used for by generation of soil fertility maps in GIS environment. In the present paper GPS based soil survey was conducted during 2012-13 where 595 nos. of spatially distributed georeferenced surface samples (0-20 cm depth) were collected from forest soils of Kandhamal district of Odisha and analysed for various secondary and micronutrients along with some basic parameters like pH, EC and OC. Derived thematic maps showed deficiency of Sulphur to an extent of 82.5% followed by Boron and Zn as the yield limiting elements of Kandhamal soils.