Spatial variability of soil nutrient in paddy plantation: Sites FELCRA Seberang Perak

Abstract

The conventional methods currently used for rice cultivation in Malaysia are unable to give maximum yield although the yield production of paddy is increasing. This is due to the conversional method being unable to include soil properties as one of their parameters in agriculture management. Soil properties vary spatially in farm scale due to differences in topography, parent material, vegetation or land management and soil characteristics; also plantation productivity varies significantly over small spatial scales. Knowledge of spatial variability in soil fertility is important for site specific nutrient management. Analysis of spatial variability of soil nutrient of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) were conducted in this study with the aid of GIS (i.e ArcGIS) and statistical softwares. In this study different temporal and depths of soil nutrient were extracted on the field and further analysis of N,P,K content were analysed in the chemical laboratory and using spatially technique in GIS sofware. The result indicated that for the Seberang Perak site of 58 hactares area, N and K are met minimum requirements nutrient content as outlines by the MARDI for paddy cultivation. However, P indicated poor condition in the study area; therefore the soil needs further attention and treatment.