scholarly journals Testing the accuracy of Soil Testing Kit® Transchem

Agro-Science ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 114-116
Author(s):  
S. Idris ◽  
A. Rilwan ◽  
S.A. Abubakar ◽  
M. Adamu ◽  
Y. Sadiq ◽  
...  

Soil testing is key to soil fertility management as it serves as a fertilizer application guide to farmers, scientists and consultants. It gives information on soil nutrient status and its supplying capacity. Laboratory (LB) procedures have been the most reliable approach for soil nutrients analyses. However, it is costly and nonpoint. Thus, the use of in–situ testing kit emerges and becomes prominent. Notwithstanding, applicability of soil testing kit must be validated by laboratory test. This work aimed to examine the reliability/suitability of Soil Testing Kit® Transchem (SK) in determining selected soil nutrients in Sahel Savannah, Nigeria. Twentyfive replicate soil samples were collected from 12°47’86’’-12°20’96’’N and 4°38’37’’-4°188’02’’E, Kebbi State Nigeria and used to test soil pH, N, P, K and soil organic carbon (SOC) by SK and LB. The SK uses colour chart and comparator for rating nutrients status qualitatively into; low, medium and high and up to very high for P. The LB results were transformed to qualitative data by corresponding the values with soil rating standardinto low, medium and high. To perform statistics, weighting was done by assigning weight load to each category; low = 1, medium = 2 and high = 3. The two methods were compared using t-test, regression and descriptive analyses. Results showed non-significant difference between the two methods for soil contents of N, P and K. However, SK poorly estimated soil pH and SOC. Correlation and regression coefficients (r = 0.915 and R2 = 0.838, respectively) indicated reliability of the SK. It is concluded that SK can be reliably used for N, P, and K but not soil pH and SOC estimation for soils in Sahel savannah of Nigeria.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabura Shara ◽  
Rony Swennen ◽  
Jozef Deckers ◽  
Fantahun Weldesenbet ◽  
Laura Vercammen ◽  
...  

Abstract. Enset (Ensete ventricosum) is a productive, drought-tolerant and multipurpose food security crop grown in the densely populated Ethiopian highlands. Its production suffers from poor soil fertility management and a bacterial wilt disease caused by the pathogen Xanthomonas campestris pv. musacearum. The aim of this study was to assess soil-plant-nutrient variation within enset home gardens over three different altitudes (ranging from 2000–3000 masl) in the Chencha catchment of the Gamo highlands and investigate whether this variation affects disease prevalence. Plant available P, Ca and Mg significantly increase with decreasing elevation but significantly decline with distance from the house. In addition, soil pH, conductivity, total organic carbon (TOC), total N, available K, Mn and Fe levels significantly decline with distance from the house. This indicates that soil fertility factors are influenced by both agro-ecology and farmers' management practices. Moreover, most nutrients reach very high levels in the garden whereas the more distant outfields are severely nutrient deprived. Plant nutrient levels are not correlated to soil nutrient levels except for N. Twenty two percent of the studied farms are symptomatic for bacterial wilt and its prevalence increases with decreasing elevation. Symptomatic gardens have a higher soil pH and available P, K and Ca levels. We conclude that soil fertility management in enset gardens should be optimized in relation to agro-ecological conditions and that both elevation and soil nutrient status need to be considered when developing strategies to curb the current Xanthomonas wilt epidemic.


2013 ◽  
Vol 389 ◽  
pp. 67-72
Author(s):  
Heng Jia Zhang ◽  
Jun Hui Li

An experiment was conducted to explore the integrated evaluation on soil nutrients in spring maize field subjected to limited irrigation (LI) in oasis region. The soil organic matter (SOM), soil total and available nitrogen (STN and SAN) and phosphorus (STP and SAP), and soil available potassium (SAK) in 0~40 cm increment at harvest of maize subjected to LI were selected as the evaluation factors to calculate the weighing coefficient of each soil nutrient and the IEI for soil nutrients using the membership function in fuzzy mathematics. At maize harvest, differences were not significant (p>0.05) in SOM, STN, STP, SAP, and SAK within 0~40 cm increment among treatments and CK, but significant difference (p<0.05) was found in SAN, with the maximum SAN maintained in MI5, which was respectively 187.3%, 96.8%, and 41.2% higher over MI2 valued the minimum, MI1, and CK. The IEI was improved by 12.4% to 22.3% in all the other treatments and CK compared to the minimum marked in MI4, with the maximum valued in MI3 treatments. Therefore, after one year experiment, the optimized irrigation management was maintained in MI3 treatment due to its maximum IEI in all the LI regimes.


Jurnal Solum ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 23
Author(s):  
Hermansah Hermansah ◽  
Juniarti Juniarti ◽  
Utami Maya Pribadi

This experiment is about the evaluation of characteristic alteration of soil nutrients after ten years at tropical rain forest Bukit Gajabuih Gunung Gadut Padang. This experiment was conducted from November 2006 - April 2007.  This experiment is arranged based on anova design with three treatments which was based on three great groups of land ( oxic-dystroudept (eutriccc, aquic), oxic-dystroudept (xanthic), oxic-typic-dystroudept (xanthic)).  The purpose of this experiment was to study the alteration of soil fertility characteristics  (K, Ca, Mg, Na, P and C/N) in ten years period (1995-2005) in tropical rain forest at Bukit Gajabuih Padang, to observe vegetation variety alteration, and the relationship with the land fertility characteristics.  From the experiment was found that nutrient status of the soils altered after ten years (*1995-2005).  Available P content increased about 77%, exchangeable Na and K  increased 86,04% and 53.65%, respectively.  On the other hand, exchangeable Mg and Ca decreased 3,05% and 65,88%, respectively.  Land C/N ratio decreased about 21,39%. The experimental plot had low soil pH.Key Words: tropical rain forest, soil nutrient status


Author(s):  
Priyanka Kumari ◽  
R. R. Singh ◽  
Ruby Rani ◽  
Mahendra Singh ◽  
Uday Kumar

Litchi (Litchi chinensis Sonn.) originated from South China, it is sub-tropical evergreen fruit crops, especially grown on the marginal climate of tropics and subtropics. It is delicious juicy fruit of India having excellent nutritional quality, pleasant flavoured, good amount of antioxidant and vitamins C, vitamin B-complex and phytonutrients flavonoids. It has a great potential to earn foreign exchange in the national and international market through export. Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) infection is a common association between plant roots and microorganisms. It is responsible for increasing plant nutrient uptake and also increases in macro and micronutrients in leaf. Therefore, the present work has been analyzed macro and micro nutrients from soil and leaf, after 60, 90 and 120 days after inoculation of two bio-inoculants with phosphorus (SSP) including nine treatments with three replications. After 120 days of inoculation both the species of mycorrhizal combination with phosphorus application were very effective. Highest Copper content is (10.99 ppm), Zinc (33.17 ppm), Iron (121.47 ppm) and Manganese (15.33 ppm) was recorded in case T5 (G. mosseae 10 g + Phosphorus 50 mg kg-1 of soil) which is gradually increases. The soil nutrient content gradually decreased with time duration but no- significant difference was found among treatments after 120 days inoculation. After 120 days potting result was found that the Copper content is (1.70 ppm), Zinc (3.07 ppm), Iron (7.80 ppm) and Manganese (4.00 ppm) was recorded in case T5 (G. mosseae 10 g + Phosphorus 50 mg kg-1 of soil).this research was undertaken to find out whether Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) infection and phosphorus affect the micro-nutrient status of soil and leaves in nursery stage.


Author(s):  
S. A. Nadaf ◽  
A. R. Bora

Coffee growing areas in Andhra Pradesh and Orissa (non-traditional area - NTA) are characterized by undulating topography with terraced slopes having narrow valleys with scattered coffee farms across the elevation of the Eastern Ghats of Vishakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) and Koraput (Orissa) districts. Under this situation plant available nutrients will become non-available and the nutrients are stored in several pools as inorganic and organic forms in soil exchange complex are very much essential for coffee plants for its growth and development. Hence, a study was conducted to know the soil nutrient status of coffee growing region of NTA. A total of 693 surface soil samples were collected at depth of 22cm randomly from each coffee growing mandals of NTA and assessed the nutrient status (soil pH, OC, available P and K) at Regional Coffee Research Station, Narsipatnam. Results of the soil test results indicated that most of the Arabica coffee soils of NTA are acidic in reaction (72 %) and soil pH > 6.0 in these soils was 28 % in the tested soils. Plant available phosphorous (P) in the soil is low with 33 % soils and 46 % of the soils are medium in range. However, only 21 % of the soils tested are high in available phosphorous content in these soils. The majority of the soils of this region are high in available potassium about 54 % and 31 % of the soils are medium in range but only 15 % of the soils are low in available K status. Coffee soils of NTA are rich in organic carbon status and almost 47 %. 33 % of the tested soils are medium in range but 19 % of soils were low in organic carbon status. Soils are slightly acidic in reaction and were rich in organic carbon and available potassium status.


Processes ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (12) ◽  
pp. 1681
Author(s):  
Aaronn Avit Ajeng ◽  
Rosazlin Abdullah ◽  
Marlinda Abdul Malek ◽  
Kit Wayne Chew ◽  
Yeek-Chia Ho ◽  
...  

The full dependency on chemical fertilizers in oil palm plantation poses an enormous threat to the ecosystem through the degradation of soil and water quality through leaching to the groundwater and contaminating the river. A greenhouse study was conducted to test the effect of combinations of biofertilizers with chemical fertilizer focusing on the soil fertility, nutrient uptake, and the growth performance of oil palms seedlings. Soils used were histosol, spodosol, oxisol, and ultisol. The three treatments were T1: 100% chemical fertilizer (NPK 12:12:17), T2: 70% chemical fertilizer + 30% biofertilizer A (CF + BFA), and T3: 70% + 30% biofertilizer B (CF + BFB). T2 and T3, respectively increased the growth of oil palm seedlings and soil nutrient status but seedlings in oxisol and ultisol under T3 had the highest in almost all parameters due to the abundance of more efficient PGPR. The height of seedlings in ultisol under T3 was 22% and 17% more than T2 and T1 respectively, with enhanced girth size, chlorophyll content, with improved nutrient uptake by the seedlings. Histosol across all treatments has a high macronutrient content suggesting that the rate of chemical fertilizer application should be revised when planting using the particular soil. With the reduction of chemical fertilizer by 25%, the combined treatment with biofertilizers could enhance the growth of the oil palm seedlings and soil nutrient properties regardless of the soil orders.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Cattin ◽  
Marc Stutter ◽  
Alfonso Lag-Brotons ◽  
Phil Wadley ◽  
Kirk T. Semple ◽  
...  

&lt;p&gt;The application of digestate from anaerobic digestion to grassland soils is of growing interest as an agricultural practice. However, significant uncertainties surrounding the potential impacts of digestate application on processes associated with the soil microbial community remain, particularly for processes governing Carbon Use Efficiency (CUE) and the broader soil C cycle. In this research, we examined how the C:N stoichiometry of digestate and the nutrient status of soil influenced the impact of digestate application on the soil C cycle. &amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Three fractions of digestate (whole [WD], solid [SD] and liquid [LD]), spanning a range of C:N, were each applied to two soils of contrasting starting nutrient status (high and low) and compared to unamended controls (Ctr). Two short-term incubations, each lasting seven days, were undertaken. In the first, applications of WD, SD and LD each achieved the same total N input to soils. In the second, digestate applications were adjusted to provide consistent total C input to soils. In each incubation, CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;-C efflux, microbial biomass C (C&lt;sub&gt;micro&lt;/sub&gt;) and pH were determined. &amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In each of the two incubations, the application of digestate significantly increased cumulative CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;-C efflux compared to control soils. However, the precise effect of digestate application varied between the two incubations and with both soil nutrient status and digestate fraction. Microbial biomass C was largely unchanged by the treatments in both incubations. During the first incubation, soil pH decreased substantially following each digestate treatment in both soil types. A similar pattern was observed within the second incubation in the high nutrient soil. However, in contrast, soil pH increased substantially following LD and WD application to the low nutrient soil in the second incubation. Varying CUE responses are likely to be observed following the application of digestate to agricultural soils, dependent on digestate fraction, C:N ratio of the digestate, and the initial soil nutrient status. Therefore, digestate application rates and soil management must be carefully planned in order to avoid adverse impacts of digestate application to land.&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;


Agriculture ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 1219
Author(s):  
Xiaodan Wang ◽  
Hua Ma ◽  
Chunyun Guan ◽  
Mei Guan

The rapidly emerging fertilizer rapeseed used as green manure has wide applications for use. However, there have been few studies on its decomposition and effects on soil nutrients and microorganisms after its decay. In this study, 12 rapeseed lines to be screened were decomposed through a randomized block field design with two green-manure-specific varieties as the controls. The contents of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium from the plants, soil nutrients, and microbial changes after degradation were measured. There were substantial differences in the rates of decomposition and cumulative release of nutrients among the different lines after 30 days of rolling. The contents of phosphorus and potassium in the soil were 1.23–2.03 and 3.93–6.32 times those before decomposition, respectively. In addition, there was a significant difference in the relative content of soil microorganisms at the phylum level after the decomposition of different species of rapeseeds. Most of the top 20 bacterial groups significantly correlated with the characteristics of plant decomposition and soil nutrient content, including Proteobacteria, Actinomycetes, Armatimonadetes, Rokubacteria, and Planctomycetes. A principal component analysis showed that the soil microorganisms and nutrients are the leading factors that enable the evaluation of the decomposing characteristics of green manure rapeseed. Numbers 5 (purple leaf mustard) and 8 (Xiafang self-seeding) were more effective than two controls, which can be used as excellent types of germplasm to promote the breeding of green manure rapeseed.


Soil Research ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (5) ◽  
pp. 482 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. K. Yong ◽  
N. H. Jalaludin ◽  
E. Brau ◽  
N. N. Shamsudin ◽  
C. C. Heo

Changes in soil nutrients have been applied in legal investigations of the time of death or to locate a clandestine grave. However, research on forensic soil chemistry under the tropical climate conditions in Malaysia is at its infancy, with few data available for forensic investigations. This study aims to study changes of soil nutrients (i.e. ammonia, phosphate and nitrate) as well as soil pH and electrical conductivity (EC), and the associated stages of decomposition of rat carcasses (n = 3) under controlled tropical climate conditions. The results showed differences in soil pH between control and carcass soils. Soil EC and concentrations of ammonia and phosphate increased during early decomposition stages, and declined thereafter. Nitrate concentration increased at the later stage of decomposition. We also found that the top layer of soil (i.e. 5 cm from surface) rendered a significant pattern of soil nutrient dynamics compared with soil at 10 cm from the surface, possibly due to a slower rate of vertical transfer and the washing-off effect. We suggest that the soil EC value and changes of soil nutrients in the top 5 cm of the soil layer have potential in forensic investigation to determine the minimum post-mortem interval and serve as an indicator for hidden graves and cadaver decomposition islands.


Author(s):  
MS Islam ◽  
T Nusrat ◽  
MR Jamil ◽  
F Yesmin ◽  
MH Kabir ◽  
...  

The study investigated on soil nutrients in agriculture practiced high, medium high, medium low and low land at Kalihati upazila of Tangail district during October 2017 to June 2018. Thirty soil samples were collected from different land types at the study area and analyzed at Soil Resource Development Institute (SRDI) to determine soil nutrient status. The soil parameters under investigation included pH, organic matter (OM), total nitrogen (N), available phosphorus (P), available zinc (Zn), available iron (Fe), available manganese (Mn), available boron (B), exchangeable potassium (K), exchangeable calcium (Ca) and exchangeable magnesium (Mg). Results indicated that many of the soil nutrient levels decreased such as pH (5.63 to 6.40), P (3.50 to 23.20 μg g-1), Zn (3.27 to 3.60 μg g-1), Mn (21.12 to 57.90 μg g-1), B (0.17 to 0.60 μg g-1), K (0.18 to 0.30 meq 100g-1) and Ca (5.75 to 9.10 meq 100g-1). On the contrary, the average content of OM (2.30 to 1.40%), Fe (248.22 to 161.10 μg g-1) and Mg (2.07 to 1.80 meq 100g-1) were increased. Total N content status did not change much (0.12%). Soil nutrients like those that available Zn, Fe, Mn and Mg contents were found above optimum level (very high) but OM and N status found below optimum level (low, very low and medium). Nutrient concentrations below optimum levels may limit crop yield. Updated knowledge about soil nutrient status needs to be provided for the farmers so that they can use necessary amount of fertilizers and avoid applying excess amount of fertilizers. Int. J. Agril. Res. Innov. Tech. 10(2): 84-90, December 2020


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