Soil Nutrient Analysis for Sustainable Agriculture in Palakkad Gap Region, South India
摘要
A research on soil fertility in Palakkad Gap region enables analysis of the nutrient status with respect to its geology as well. The Palakkad Gap, being located in the Palakkad Cauvery Shear Zone, constitutes probably one of the oldest regions in the Southern Granulite Terrain and has undergone repeated events of tectogenesis besides it is one of the major breaks of the Western Ghats. Politically, the study area falls in the portions of Palakkad district of Kerala and the Coimbatore district of Tamil Nadu with 116,677 ha. Soil nutrient analysis help in soil management by checking soil degradation for a sustainable future of agricultural practices. In this respect, a comprehensive approach associating physio-chemical analysis of soil, geostatistical and ArcGIS platforms has been utilised. The spatial distributions of soil nutrient parameters have been represented by an interpolation method in the ArcGIS software. Soil sampling results along with supportive secondary sources have been incorporated as the database for this research. The conditions of soil pH and electrical conductivity (EC), the distribution of available macro and micro-nutrients, have been analysed with the test results from Kerala Forest and Research Institute (KFRI), Govt. of Kerala. The results show that almost 45% of the total area is normal for pH and electrical conductivity falls in non-saline category for 98% of the region. The nitrogen, organic content and boron levels are deficient while all other macro and micro-nutrients are sufficient in the region. The Soil Nutrient Index has been employed to evaluate the fertility status of the region as a whole and reached the inference that Palakkad Gap region is unique from the rest of the region of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Besides, proper attention for deficient soil nutrients can ensure outstanding agricultural productivity in the region.