Evaluation of soil fertility status in various agro ecosystems of Thrissur District, Kerala, India

Abstract

This study was conducted to evaluate soil fertility status in the eight major agro ecosystems viz., coconut, banana, rubber, paddy, arecanut, nutmeg, pepper and vegetables in Thrissur District, Kerala. For this, a total of 30 panchayats out of 92 were selected representing 6 agro ecological zones in the district. Surface soil samples (0-15 cm) @ one sample/ ha. were collected from dominant agro ecosystems along with the details regarding farmer's name, soil type, fertilizer details, irrigation etc. There were a total of 5120 samples. The collected samples were air dried, sieved and analyzed for various soil fertility parameters such as pH, EC, organic carbon, macro and micro nutrients etc. The data on various parameters were categorized into low, medium and high classes based on soil fertility ratings and nutrient index was calculated. Results revealed that soil reaction in the study area varied from strongly acidic to slightly alkaline with pH values varying from 2.9 to 7.7 Among the eight agro ecosystems studied, soil fertility with respect to organic carbon and nitrogen were high in rubber and medium in all others. In all the agro ecosystems, status of P was high. Status of K was low in arecanut and high in rubber. Sulphur was low in rubber, vegetables and pepper. All the micronutrients except boron were high in all the agro ecosystems. But the status of boron was low in all the eight agro ecosystems studied. .