Soil Fertility Status of Some Villages in Chilika Block of North Eastern Ghat Agroclimatic Zone of Odisha
Abstract
The work on the status of soil fertility in Chilika Block of Khurda district in Odisha has not been done extensively. Total 30 surface (0-15cm) soil samples were collected from three villages namely Vellery, Badakul and Chasangara of Chilika Block of Khurda district. The organic carbon content of all the three villages varies from low to very high with a mean value varying from 0.49% to 0.75% and is good enough for crop production and in Vellery village it is found to be highest due to presence of black soil. The available N content of all the three villages are found to be low and is found to be in positive co-relation with the organic carbon content of the lands. The available N content is higher in all the land types of Chasangara village in comparison to similar land types of other two villages. The available P content of all soil in all the three villages is moderate. However the P content of Vellery village is higher than other two villages because of the higher content of organic matter. The available K contents of all the soils of all the three villages are high and especially in Vellery village it is highest. This is a good indication for the high yield of various fruits, vegetables and tuber crops which need a high amount of K. The S content is found to be comparatively higher in the low land soils of all the three villages under study. Again the relatively higher content of S in all the three types of land i.e. upland, medium land and low land of Vellery village in comparison to other two villages has a good co-relation with the other parameters under study. The various results obtained from the different soil tests give information about the nutrients status of the soil of the three villages under study and on the basis of these findings, a balanced recommendation of fertilizers and manures to various crops can be made that will help in increasing the productivity of different food crops for the economical development of the farmers of that area.
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Introduction
Use of specified dose of fertilizer in the agricultural field is the most important agricultural input for increasing crop production. Soil testing is now considered as an important tool for the recommendation of the fertilizers doses for various crops in India. Soil testing is based on intimate knowledge of soil-crop-variety-fertilizer-climate-management interaction under a given situation. The fertilizer application by farmers in the field without knowledge of soil fertility status and nutrient requirement of different crops usually leads to adverse effect on soil as well as crops by way of nutrient deficiency or toxicity due to over use or inadequate use of fertilizers. Finally these results in loss of precious financial resources of farmers and lowers the soil productivity and accelerates the soil degradation in long run.
The Soil taxonomy of Odisha has been extensively studied by many workers .The soils of Odisha are divided into four orders such as Inceptisols (49%); Alfisols (35%); Entisols (10%) and Vertisols (6%). Again about soil reaction 69% of the soils of Odisha are acidic in reaction, 6% are saline, rest 25% are neutral and with regards to the fertility status of soils of Odisha on district wise basis nearly 60% soils are medium and 40% soils are low in organic carbon content; 73% are medium and 27% soils are low in available phosphorus. With respect to availability of Potassium, 7% soils are low, 86% are medium and 7% are high. It is concluded that soils of two districts, namely Boudh and Phulbani are having high Potassium status whereas districts of Ganjam and Gajapati are low in available Potassium content (Nanda et. al, 2008). Hence due to such variation in the nutrient status in the different districts of the state and different blocks of districts, certain doses of fertilizer recommendations for different crops in Odisha is necessary to be specified for different areas.
Work on preparation of soil fertility maps have been done for Khurda district of Odisha, but no such work has been done for the villages under study in the present investigation. Therefore, an attempt has been made in the present investigation to prepare soil fertility maps for three different villages of Chilika block and to find out the soil fertility related production constraints of different crops grown and to suggest remedial measures.
Conclusion
As per the experimentation carried out for the soil of Badakul, Chasangara and Vellery villages of Chilika block of Khurda district of Odisha, the results show the deficiency and sufficiency of available plant nutrients in soils in representative villages of Chilika block of Khurda district which represent the different types of soils of North Eastern Ghat Agroclimatic zone of Odisha. It will go a long way in balanced recommendation of fertilizer to various crops. This will help to increase the production of different food crops like paddy, maize, groundnut, sesame, black gram, green gram, papaya, arhar, coriander, garlic, brinjal, tomato, beans, banana, bottle gourd, fibre crops etc which are grown in these villages. This will also help the farmers in applying the balanced nutrition to crops for the better yield.