Soil fertility monitoring and mapping with a minimal set of data: A case study for rice paddies

Odisha is an agrarian state where 73% population dependent on farming and most of them are small and marginal farmer. Farmers of this state also vulnerable to different natural extreme events like flood, drought and cyclone. For sustainable crop production it is essential to develop a village level the soil fertility index (SFI) map at a higher resolution. A total of 192 gridded soil samples with a resolution of 0.5 km × 0.5 km were collected in Tangi Choudwar. The Soil organic carbon (SOC), available Nitrogen (N), Phosphorous (P), potassium (K), and micronutrient (Fe, Cu, Mn, Zn and B) maps were developed using spatial variability analysis. Then a complete soil fertility index map was developed using the Arc GIS software. In spatial variability analysis SOC and micronutrients (Fe, Cu, Mn, Zn and B) content were higher in NE site of Tangi Choudwar block. The SFI value was range between 0.21 to 0.62 with higher SFI in reported at NE site. Person’s correlation of rice grain yield showed a positively correlation with SFI (0.44, P<0.05). These results showed that soil fertility index can be used in precision agriculture during crop planning and restoration of soil fertility of a region.