Soil fertility assessment and nutrient indexing of pdkv adopted mohammadpur model village in yavatmal district

Introduction

Soil is a living and very critical natural resource that meets human and livestock requirements in the form of food, fodder, fuel and fibre. Land is a scarce resource and the demands posed by the mass population, urbanization, industrial activities, and intensive farming have helped to degrade the soil. It is thus important to retain its soil health to maintain sustainable agricultural productivity, food security and long-term land use productivity. Proper, location specific data on the nutrient status of soils are important in making informed decisions on fertilizer application and good management of soils. These kinds of data can be acquired by carrying out regular assessments of fertility of soils, which augur knowledge on the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of the soils. Some of the important indicators of soil quality are agriculture productivity since soil quality influences the crop productivity and also the fertility of the land (Wankhede et al., 2021) [24] . Assessment of the physical, chemical and nutrient properties of soil is important in determining its fertility and thus a management plan of the land to be on the lines of sustainable agriculture (Shanmugasundaram et al., 2019) [21] . Balanced fertilization and conservation of organic matter by applying appropriate soil management practices are required to improve carbon sequestration in soil, in addition to boosting agriculture productivity with different types of agro-climatic conditions (Bhattacharyya et al., 2009) [1] . Based on this, this study was undertaken to assess the level of soil fertility of Mohammadpur Village in Yavatmal district in order to further boost agricultural performance.

Materials and Methods

The Mohammadpur village is situated in 78.16 E longitude and Latitude 20.55 N in Babhulgaon Tehsil of Yavatmal district with annual ainfall of 1364.8 mm. The total geographical area of Mohammadpur village is 390.97 ha out of which 388.29 ha is cultivable and 230.0 ha is under irrigation. The total population of the village is 780. The soils of the region are medium to deep black and shallow coarse in origin. These soils are deep, stickyand clay loam in texture and moisture retentive. The samples were collected from the fields of different farmers during 2024 -25. In Mohammadpur village, 73 samples (0-20cm) were taken and their positions in the field were noted on GPS and the sample were then analysed for chemical parameters (pH, electrical conductivity, organic carbon, calcium carbonate), available macronutrients (N, P, K and S) and micronutrients (Fe, Cu, Mn and Zn). A 1:2.5 soil-water suspension was used to determine the pH and electrical conductivity of the soil (Jackson, 1973) [8,9] . Soil organic carbon was measured by wet oxidation method described by Walkley and Black (1934) [23] whereas, calcium carbonate was estimated using rapid titration method described by Piper (1966) [17,18] .

The available nitrogen was estimated through alkaline permanganate method as suggested by Subbiah and Asija (1956) [22] . Available P was extracted calorimetrically using Olsen method (Watanabe and Olsen, 1965) [16] . Available K was estimated by flame photometer after extraction with neutral normal ammonium acetate (pH 7.0) as suggested by Knudsen and Peterson (1982) [11] . The available micronutrients (Fe, Mn, Cu, and Zn) was extracted using DTPA (Lindsay and Norvell, 1978) [14] . The nutrient index value (NIV) was determined on the basis of the six scale method of Ramamoorthy and Bajaj (1969) [19,20] as given below:

Where, NVL, NL, NM, NMH, NH and NVH are the number of samples in very low, low, medium, moderately high, high and very high classes of nutrients as per six tier system. Very High 2.76 to 3.00

Results and Discussion

Soil properties

The soils of Mohammadpur were found to be slightly alkaline in reaction, with pH values ranging from 7.66 to 8.32 (mean 8.04). The EC of the soils ranged from 0.12 to 0.55 dS m -1 , with a mean value of 0.24 dS m -1 indicating non-saline and within the safe limit.

The organic carbon status of the Mohammadpur village varied from 0.31 to 0.95 %, with a mean value of 0.68 %. The 97.27 percent soil samples were medium to very high in category. The CaCO3 contents of soils were ranging from 1.98 to 9.62 % and a mean value of 6.28% indicating soil is calcareous with moderately high to high percentage.

Status of macro nutrients

The result showed that the status of available nitrogen in the soils of Mohammadpur village in Yavatmal district was ranged from 150.60 to 216.2 kg ha -1 , with a mean value of 191.62 kg ha -1 . The 100 % soil samples were found in low category, respectively. The available phosphorus in the soils of the study area ranged from 14.32 to 20.80 kg ha -1 , with a mean value of 17.40 kg ha -1 . All the 100 % soil samples were found in medium category. A wide variation in the contents of available potassium was noticed in the soils of the study area ranging from 229.36 to 435.12 kg ha -1 , with mean value of 298 kg ha -1 . Overall, 10.95 % soil samples were in the moderately high category, 46.57% in high, 42.48% in very high category of available potassium. For available sulphur, the per cent samples in low and medium categories were 45.20 and 54.80 %, respectively. The available sulphur ranged from 5.37to 14.41mg kg -1 with mean value of 10.22 mg kg -1 .

Status of micro nutrients

In the soils of Mohammadpur village in Yavatmal district, the available iron (Fe) content ranged from 4.39 to 5.93 mg kg⁻¹, with an average value of 4.90 mg kg⁻¹. Based on fertility classification, 4.10 % of the samples were in the low category, while remaining 95.90% in the medium category. Available manganese (Mn) content varied between 4.14 and 8.60 mg kg⁻¹, with a mean value of 6.80 mg kg⁻¹. The distribution showed that 87.67 % of the samples were moderately high and 12.33% were in the very high category.

Available zinc (Zn) levels ranged from 0.41 to 0.78 mg kg⁻¹, with an average of 0.58 mg kg⁻¹. On an average, 57.53 % samples was in low category and 42.47 % into the medium category. Available copper (Cu) concentrations in the soils ranged from 1.29 to 3.02 mg kg⁻¹, with an average value of 2.00 mg kg⁻¹. Among the samples, all of the 73 (100%) were in the very high category.

Nutrient Value Index (NIV)

The Nutrient Index Values (NIV) of the studied soils revealed a varied fertility status across different parameters. Organic carbon and calcium carbonate exhibited moderately high and high levels, with values of 1.96 and 2.33 respectively. In contrast, the soils were found to be deficient in available nitrogen (1.00) and phosphorus (1.50) reflecting a low status for these essential nutrients, whereas sulphur (1.27) showed moderate status. Potassium, recorded a high status with an NIV of 2.65. The Nutrient Index Value of Micronutrients, soils showed a low status for zinc (1.21) and iron (1.47). Manganese (2.06) and copper (2.58) exhibited moderately high and high status, indicating their abundant presence in the soils.

Conclusion

Based on the current study, it can be concluded that the soils of Mohammadpur village are slightly alkaline, non-saline and highly calcareous, and they have medium-high organic carbon. Whereas potassium, manganese, copper and iron are sufficiently abundant, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulphur and zinc are deficient in the soils. All these nutrient imbalances suggest the relevance of specific nutrient management especially supplementing N, P, S and Zn as a way of enhancing the overall fertility of the soils and making them sustainable with crop production.

Acknowledgement

AcknowledgementThe authors are highly grateful to the Head, Department of Soil Science, Dr. PDKV, Akola for providing necessary facilities to carry out this work.

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