Delineation and GPS-GIS based mapping of available macro and micronutrients of soils of Lakhani block of Bhandara, Maharashtra

Abstract

The present experiment for assessing and mapping of available macro and micronutrients status was conducted in 101 villages of Lakhani block of Bhandara district in Maharashtra state of India, located in north deccan Maharashtra lower plateau in ‘Wainganga’ sub-basin of ‘Godawari’ basin, during the pre monsoon season of 2015-2018. The collected and processed composite soil samples were analyzed for some physico-chemical properties, available macro and micronutrient status. The results showed that pH, EC, OC, N, K, P, S, Zn, Fe, Cu, Mn and B were ranging from 6.00-7.8, 0.1-1.9 dSm-1, 0.27-0.78%, 180.7-513.9 kg ha-1, 9.7-132.0 kg ha-1, 169.1-803.9 kg ha-1, 0.1-63.1 kg ha-1, 0.2-1.7 mg kg-1, 0.4-24.2 mg kg-1, 0.6-4.4 mg kg-1, 2.1-19.3 mg kg-1 and 0.1-2.3 mg kg-1 respectively. The nutrient index of available nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and sulphur was 1.4, 2.4, 2.9 and 1.6 respectively. The nutrient index values for available Zn, Fe, Cu, Mn and B were 1.1, 1.8, 3.0, 2.9 and 1.0 respectively. In 1960’s the green revolution has just pushed the production in such way that, intensive cultivation of high yielding and hybrid varieties has declined the uses of organic manures as well as crop residual recycling which has resulted to wide spread deficiencies in soil nutrients (Santhi et al., 2018) [12]. Now a days the key factor for efficient fertilizer management is appropriate supply of plant nutrients in balanced manner. Specific nutrient supply gives the high production as well as it maintains the soil health. The presence of macro and micronutrients determines the soil fertility as it is the inherent ability of soil to supply nutrients to plants (Kumar et al., 2017) [9]. The study on soil fertility status of intensively cultivated soils should be undertaken, which are majorly deficient in available macro and micro nutrients (Dongarwar et al., 2015) [3]. The remote sensing and geographic information system techniques are rapid, reliable, cost effective as well as it provide quick spatial information of earth surface (Kashiwar et al., 2018) [8]. Soil information without geospatial coordinates is not useful for site specific recommendations and subsequent monitoring. Whereas the use of GPS and GIS will be very helpful for fertilizer recommendation and it is easy to access the status of soil fertility spatially in future studies (Kashiwar et al., 2018) [8].