Soil Analysis GIS-Based Fertility Assessment and Soil Mapping of Cardamom Growing Area, Pandam, Ilam, Nepal

Abstract

Abstract: The objective of this research was to map the status of soil nutrients in the farmlands of cardamom development centre, Pandam, Fikkal, Ilam. The research was carried out in January 2021, and soil laboratory analysis was performed in February 2021, after soil sample collection. n the soil lab of the Agriculture Knowledge Center, Ilam, soil samples were examined for texture, PH, N, P2O5, K2O, and organic matter using a conventional analytics procedure. The ARC-GIS version 10 was used to prepare the soil-fertility maps. The data revealed two predominant textural classes; sandy loam (70%) and loam (30%).The soil PH (5.19±0.08) was slightly acidic in majority of the study site i.e. 83.3% of the research location was found to be acidic and 16.6% of the location was found to be neutral soil. While the organic matter(5.3%±0.0096) and total nitrogen content (0.263%±0.0038) of the study area was found to be high in about two-third of sampling location, phosphorous (49.61kg/ha±0.89) was found to be medium in majority of the site i.e. 90% medium, 6.67% high and 3.33% was low. Available potassium (82.78kg/ha±7.71) was found to be low i.e. 60% of the research location was found to be low in Total potassium, 39.9% was medium and 0.01% was high in potassium. The research was carried out in January 2021, and soil laboratory analysis was performed in February 2021, after soil sample collection