SOIL FERTILITY MAPPING OF ARECANUT GROWING AREAS IN SIRSI HOBLI OF UTTARA KANNADA
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Date
2021-12
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University of Horticultural Sciences Bagalkot. (College of Horticulture, Bagalkot).
Abstract
Sirsi taluk is having highest area in traditional arecanut growing belt but low
productivity is a serious concern which may be due to sustained nutrient requirement
and low nutrient use efficiency. So there was a need to assess soil fertility status of
arecanut holdings, understand the effect of geomorphological parameters like elevation,
slope and aspect and assess soil organic carbon stock to know the soil health of arecanut
holdings. Geo-referenced 150 surface soil samples were collected from arecanut
gardens of 42 villages of Sirsi hobli, Uttara Kannada district, Karnataka and were
analysed for soil chemical parameters.
The fertility status revealed that the soils were slightly acidic to neutral in soil
reaction, non-saline and high in organic carbon content. The macro nutrient availability
showed low available N (100%), medium in available P (74%) and available K (99%)
and sufficient in exchangeable Ca and Mg and medium to high in available S (56% and
94% respectively). With regards to micronutrients, the soils were deficient in Zn (28%)
and sufficient in all other micronutrients viz., available Fe, Cu and Mn. Geodatabase
was created and thematic maps for all the parameters were prepared using QGIS 3.8
software.
Soil organic carbon stock ranged from 20.23-190.34 tones/ha. Topography
parameters like elevation, slope and aspect did not show significant effect on properties
of arecanut growing soils in Sirsi hobli. Among all the nutrient parameters, EC, organic
carbon, available N, Zn and Fe showed significant spatial autocorrelation as indicated
by Moran’s index. By overlaying all the nutrient maps, management zone map or
constraint map was prepared, which indicated that the overall study area was poor in
available N and deficient in available Zn. Hence, there is a need to manage nitrogen and
zinc to sustain the arecanut yield