Research Article
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Digital soil mapping for soil fertility analysis: A case study of Rong Rural Municipality, Ilam, Nepal

Year 2025, Volume: 7 Issue: 1, 66 - 79

Riya Poudel , Pawan Kumar Yadav , Abhishek Baniya , Radhika Bharati , Yatiraj Pyakurel , Tulasha Gautam , Animesh Khadka , Ravi Acharya

https://doi.org/10.53663/turjfas.1628699

Abstract

Soil fertility is the important factor for the sustainability and productive ability of soil. Soil fertility is an ability to provide plant with necessary nutrients in adequate amounts, suitable forms, and appropriate proportions enabling optimal plant growth. This study was carried out to determine the soil fertility status of Rong Rural Municipality, Illam, Nepal. Altogether, 100 samples were collected randomly from the depth of (0-30 cm). The exact location of the soil samples was recorded using a GPS toolbox Application. All the samples were tested, analyzed at a soil and manure testing Laboratory, Surunga, Illam, Nepal to find out the 6 parameters of soil i.e. soil pH, soil organic matter, soil texture, available nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium status. The soil pH was tested by using Digital pH meter, soil texture by hydrometer, soil organic matter by Walkey and Black method, nitrogen by Kjeldahl Distillation unit, phosphorus by Modified Olsen’s Bicarbonate method and potassium by Flame photometer method. Moreover, soil fertility maps were made by using Arc GIS 10.5 software. Primarily the study area consists of 70.83% of sandy loam and 29.16% of loam-textured soil. The soil pH was slightly acidic ranging from 5.49 to 6.07. Soil organic matter (1.08-2.53%), nitrogen (0.032-0.24%), phosphorus (18.16-69.22 kg ha-1) was in the range. Potassium (50.39- 463.05 kg ha-1) are available in the soil with the status of low to high in the study area. To achieve sustainable crop production, it is essential to have a thorough understanding of the soil’s fertility status and implement suitable nutrient management approaches.

Keywords

GIS mapping Nutrient management Precision agriculture Soil fertility Spatial variability

Ethical Statement

This study did not require ethical approval because it did not involve any experiments or human or animal subjects.

Supporting Institution

This study was conducted without any financial support or external funding.

References

  • Adhikari, K., & Lamichhane, S. (2024). Nutrients variability in soils of the hill-valley transect of NPI farmlands in Chitwan. NPI Journal of Science and Technology, 1(1), 162–165. https://doi.org/10.3126/npijst.v1i1.68951
  • Bajracharya, R. M., & Sherchan, D. P. (2009). Fertility status and dynamics of soils in the Nepal Himalaya: A review and analysis. Soil Fertility, 111-135.
  • Baral, D., Paudel, A., Acharya, H., & Neupane, M. P. (2021). Evaluation of soil nutrient status in apple orchards located in different altitudes in Kalikot District, Nepal. Malaysian Journal of Sustainable Agriculture, 5(2), 99–103. http://doi.org/10.26480/mjsa.02.2021.99.103
  • Bhandari, B. S., Sharma, P., & Panday, D. (2020). Organic matter variation in mid-hill soils of Nepal. Soil Fertility Research, 25(2), 45-59.
  • Cambardella, C. A., & Karlen, D. L. (1999). Spatial analysis of soil fertility parameters. Precision Agriculture, 1(1), 5–14. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009925919134
  • Chang, J., Ritter, B., Feller, D., & Nepal, M. (2024). Soil Health Class-2: Soil pH. ILEARN Teaching Resources.
  • Desbiez, A., Matthews, R., Tripathi, B., & Ellis-Jones, J. (2004). Perceptions and assessment of soil fertility by farmers in the mid-hills of Nepal. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 103(1), 191–206. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2003.10.003
  • Ghimire P, Shrestha S, Acharya A, Wagle A, Acharya TD (2024) Soil fertility mapping of a cultivated area in Resunga Municipality, Gulmi, Nepal. PLoS ONE 19(1), e0292181. https://doi.org/ 10.1371/journal.pone.0292181
  • Ghimire, P., Bhatta, B., Pokhrel, B., Kafle, G., & Paudel, P. (2019). Soil organic carbon stocks under different land uses in Chure region of Makawanpur district, Nepal. SAARC Journal of Agriculture, 16(2), 13–23. https://doi.org/10.3329/sja.v16i2.40255
  • Guth, P. L., Van Niekerk, A., Grohmann, C. H., Muller, J.-P., Hawker, L., Florinsky, I. V., Gesch, D., Reuter, H. I., Herrera-Cruz, V., Riazanoff, S., López-Vázquez, C., Carabajal, C. C., Albinet, C., & Strobl, P. (2021). Digital elevation models: Terminology and Definitions. Remote Sensing, 13(18), 3581. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13183581
  • Havlin, J., & Heiniger, R. (2020). Soil fertility management for better crop production. Agronomy, 10(9), 1349. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy10091349
  • Jena, R. K., Moharana, P. C., Pradhan, U. K., Sharma, G. K., Ray, P., Roy, P. D., & Ghosh, D. (2024). Soil fertility mapping and applications for site-specific nutrient management: A case study. In Remote sensing of soils. Elsevier (pp. 65–80). https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-443-18773-5.00025-9
  • Khadka, D., Lamichhane, S., Amgain, R., Joshi, S., Vista, S. P., Sah, K., & Ghimire, N. H. (2019). Soil fertility assessment and mapping spatial distribution of Agricultural Research Station, Bijayanagar, Jumla, Nepal. Eurasian Journal of Soil Science, 8(3), 237-248. https://doi.org/10.18393/ejss.566551
  • Khadka, D., Lamichhane, S., Khan, S., Joshi, S., & Pant, B. B. (2016). Assessment of soil fertility status of agriculture research station, Belachapi, Dhanusha, Nepal. Journal of Maize Research and Development, 2(1), 43–57. https://doi.org/10.3126/jmrd.v2i1.16214
  • Khaki, B. D., Honarjoo, N., Davatgar, N., Jalalian, A., & Golsefidi, H. T. (2017). Assessing two soil fertility indexes for suitability evaluation of paddy fields for rice cultivation. Sustainability (Switzerland), 9(8), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.3390/su9081299
  • Kharal, S., Khanal, B. R., & Panday, D. (2018). Soil fertility assessment under different land-use systems Dhading District of Nepal. Soil Systems, 2(4), 57. https://doi.org/10.3390/soilsystems2040057
  • Lanki A. D., & Onwu C. A. (2024). Geographic information system (GIS) application in soil fertility management: A Review. Journal of Global Agriculture and Ecology, 16(2), 29–40. https://doi.org/10.56557/jogae/2024/v16i28592
  • Masrie, M., Rosman, M. S. A., Sam, R., & Janin, Z. (2018). Detection of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (NPK) nutrients of soil using optical transducer. 2017 IEEE International Conference on Smart Instrumentation, Measurement and Applications, ICSIMA 2017, 2017 Novem (November), 1–4.
  • Panday, D., Ojha, R. B., Chalise, D., Das, S., & Twanabasu, B. (2019). Spatial variability of soil properties under different land use in the Dang District of Nepal. Cogent Food & Agriculture, 5(1), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311932.2019.1600460
  • Pandey, S., Bhatta, N. P., Paudel, P., Pariyar, R., Maskey, K. H., Khadka, J., Thapa, T. B., Rijal, B., & Panday, D. (2018). Soil-testing mobile van for improved fertilizer recommendations for Nepalese farmers. Journal of Crop Improvement, 32(1), 19-32. https://doi.org/10.1080/15427528.2017.1387837
  • Pokharel, R., Adhikari, R., Nepal, N., & Budhathoki, R (2023). Soil analysis GIS-based fertility assessment and soil mapping of cardamom growing area, Pandam, Ilam, Nepal. International Journal for Research in Applied Science & Engineering Technology, 11(4), 4175-4181. https://doi.org/10.22214/ijraset.2023.51229
  • Rawal, N., Acharya, K. K., Bam, C. R., & Acharya, K. (2018). Soil fertility mapping of different VDCs of Sunsari District, Nepal using GIS. International Journal of Applied Sciences and Biotechnology, 6(2), 142–151. https://doi.org/10.3126/ijasbt.v6i2.20424
  • Shrestha, A. K., Dawadi, B., Shrestha, S., Maharjan, K. K., & Malla, R. (2018). Soil fertility status of agricultural land in mid-hill of Gorkha District, Nepal. Nepal Journal of Environmental Science, 6, 9–16. https://doi.org/10.3126/njes.v6i0.30121
  • Shrestha, J., Gautam, K. P., & Bista, R. (2019). Nitrogen dynamics in agricultural soils of Nepal. International Journal of Soil Science, 10(4), 211-226. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijss.2019.10214
  • Tiwari, A., Bidari, A., Bista, R. (2024). Site-specific growth performance of Cedrus deodara forests in Western Nepal Himalaya. Plant Ecology, 225, 1059–1070. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-024-01454-1 Venishetty, V., Parajuli, P. B., To, F., Nepal, D., Baker, B., & Gude, V. G. (2024). Evaluating best management practice efficacy based on seasonal variability and spatial scales. Hydrology, 11(4), 58. https://doi.org/10.3390/hydrology11040058
  • Vista, S. P., Kumar, S. B., Ghimire, T. B., Rai, S., Kutu, B., & Karna, B. K (2018). Soil fertility assessment and mapping of rice super zone, Jhapa. International Journal of Chemical Studies, SP4, 157-162.

Year 2025, Volume: 7 Issue: 1, 66 - 79

Riya Poudel , Pawan Kumar Yadav , Abhishek Baniya , Radhika Bharati , Yatiraj Pyakurel , Tulasha Gautam , Animesh Khadka , Ravi Acharya

https://doi.org/10.53663/turjfas.1628699

Abstract

References

  • Adhikari, K., & Lamichhane, S. (2024). Nutrients variability in soils of the hill-valley transect of NPI farmlands in Chitwan. NPI Journal of Science and Technology, 1(1), 162–165. https://doi.org/10.3126/npijst.v1i1.68951
  • Bajracharya, R. M., & Sherchan, D. P. (2009). Fertility status and dynamics of soils in the Nepal Himalaya: A review and analysis. Soil Fertility, 111-135.
  • Baral, D., Paudel, A., Acharya, H., & Neupane, M. P. (2021). Evaluation of soil nutrient status in apple orchards located in different altitudes in Kalikot District, Nepal. Malaysian Journal of Sustainable Agriculture, 5(2), 99–103. http://doi.org/10.26480/mjsa.02.2021.99.103
  • Bhandari, B. S., Sharma, P., & Panday, D. (2020). Organic matter variation in mid-hill soils of Nepal. Soil Fertility Research, 25(2), 45-59.
  • Cambardella, C. A., & Karlen, D. L. (1999). Spatial analysis of soil fertility parameters. Precision Agriculture, 1(1), 5–14. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009925919134
  • Chang, J., Ritter, B., Feller, D., & Nepal, M. (2024). Soil Health Class-2: Soil pH. ILEARN Teaching Resources.
  • Desbiez, A., Matthews, R., Tripathi, B., & Ellis-Jones, J. (2004). Perceptions and assessment of soil fertility by farmers in the mid-hills of Nepal. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 103(1), 191–206. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2003.10.003
  • Ghimire P, Shrestha S, Acharya A, Wagle A, Acharya TD (2024) Soil fertility mapping of a cultivated area in Resunga Municipality, Gulmi, Nepal. PLoS ONE 19(1), e0292181. https://doi.org/ 10.1371/journal.pone.0292181
  • Ghimire, P., Bhatta, B., Pokhrel, B., Kafle, G., & Paudel, P. (2019). Soil organic carbon stocks under different land uses in Chure region of Makawanpur district, Nepal. SAARC Journal of Agriculture, 16(2), 13–23. https://doi.org/10.3329/sja.v16i2.40255
  • Guth, P. L., Van Niekerk, A., Grohmann, C. H., Muller, J.-P., Hawker, L., Florinsky, I. V., Gesch, D., Reuter, H. I., Herrera-Cruz, V., Riazanoff, S., López-Vázquez, C., Carabajal, C. C., Albinet, C., & Strobl, P. (2021). Digital elevation models: Terminology and Definitions. Remote Sensing, 13(18), 3581. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13183581
  • Havlin, J., & Heiniger, R. (2020). Soil fertility management for better crop production. Agronomy, 10(9), 1349. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy10091349
  • Jena, R. K., Moharana, P. C., Pradhan, U. K., Sharma, G. K., Ray, P., Roy, P. D., & Ghosh, D. (2024). Soil fertility mapping and applications for site-specific nutrient management: A case study. In Remote sensing of soils. Elsevier (pp. 65–80). https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-443-18773-5.00025-9
  • Khadka, D., Lamichhane, S., Amgain, R., Joshi, S., Vista, S. P., Sah, K., & Ghimire, N. H. (2019). Soil fertility assessment and mapping spatial distribution of Agricultural Research Station, Bijayanagar, Jumla, Nepal. Eurasian Journal of Soil Science, 8(3), 237-248. https://doi.org/10.18393/ejss.566551
  • Khadka, D., Lamichhane, S., Khan, S., Joshi, S., & Pant, B. B. (2016). Assessment of soil fertility status of agriculture research station, Belachapi, Dhanusha, Nepal. Journal of Maize Research and Development, 2(1), 43–57. https://doi.org/10.3126/jmrd.v2i1.16214
  • Khaki, B. D., Honarjoo, N., Davatgar, N., Jalalian, A., & Golsefidi, H. T. (2017). Assessing two soil fertility indexes for suitability evaluation of paddy fields for rice cultivation. Sustainability (Switzerland), 9(8), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.3390/su9081299
  • Kharal, S., Khanal, B. R., & Panday, D. (2018). Soil fertility assessment under different land-use systems Dhading District of Nepal. Soil Systems, 2(4), 57. https://doi.org/10.3390/soilsystems2040057
  • Lanki A. D., & Onwu C. A. (2024). Geographic information system (GIS) application in soil fertility management: A Review. Journal of Global Agriculture and Ecology, 16(2), 29–40. https://doi.org/10.56557/jogae/2024/v16i28592
  • Masrie, M., Rosman, M. S. A., Sam, R., & Janin, Z. (2018). Detection of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (NPK) nutrients of soil using optical transducer. 2017 IEEE International Conference on Smart Instrumentation, Measurement and Applications, ICSIMA 2017, 2017 Novem (November), 1–4.
  • Panday, D., Ojha, R. B., Chalise, D., Das, S., & Twanabasu, B. (2019). Spatial variability of soil properties under different land use in the Dang District of Nepal. Cogent Food & Agriculture, 5(1), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311932.2019.1600460
  • Pandey, S., Bhatta, N. P., Paudel, P., Pariyar, R., Maskey, K. H., Khadka, J., Thapa, T. B., Rijal, B., & Panday, D. (2018). Soil-testing mobile van for improved fertilizer recommendations for Nepalese farmers. Journal of Crop Improvement, 32(1), 19-32. https://doi.org/10.1080/15427528.2017.1387837
  • Pokharel, R., Adhikari, R., Nepal, N., & Budhathoki, R (2023). Soil analysis GIS-based fertility assessment and soil mapping of cardamom growing area, Pandam, Ilam, Nepal. International Journal for Research in Applied Science & Engineering Technology, 11(4), 4175-4181. https://doi.org/10.22214/ijraset.2023.51229
  • Rawal, N., Acharya, K. K., Bam, C. R., & Acharya, K. (2018). Soil fertility mapping of different VDCs of Sunsari District, Nepal using GIS. International Journal of Applied Sciences and Biotechnology, 6(2), 142–151. https://doi.org/10.3126/ijasbt.v6i2.20424
  • Shrestha, A. K., Dawadi, B., Shrestha, S., Maharjan, K. K., & Malla, R. (2018). Soil fertility status of agricultural land in mid-hill of Gorkha District, Nepal. Nepal Journal of Environmental Science, 6, 9–16. https://doi.org/10.3126/njes.v6i0.30121
  • Shrestha, J., Gautam, K. P., & Bista, R. (2019). Nitrogen dynamics in agricultural soils of Nepal. International Journal of Soil Science, 10(4), 211-226. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijss.2019.10214
  • Tiwari, A., Bidari, A., Bista, R. (2024). Site-specific growth performance of Cedrus deodara forests in Western Nepal Himalaya. Plant Ecology, 225, 1059–1070. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-024-01454-1 Venishetty, V., Parajuli, P. B., To, F., Nepal, D., Baker, B., & Gude, V. G. (2024). Evaluating best management practice efficacy based on seasonal variability and spatial scales. Hydrology, 11(4), 58. https://doi.org/10.3390/hydrology11040058
  • Vista, S. P., Kumar, S. B., Ghimire, T. B., Rai, S., Kutu, B., & Karna, B. K (2018). Soil fertility assessment and mapping of rice super zone, Jhapa. International Journal of Chemical Studies, SP4, 157-162.
There are 26 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Subjects Plant Nutrition and Soil Fertility, Soil Survey and Mapping
Journal Section Research Articles
Authors

Riya Poudel 0009-0000-8881-2131

Pawan Kumar Yadav 0009-0007-2710-6058

Abhishek Baniya 0009-0003-8148-5192

Radhika Bharati 0009-0001-2830-8379

Yatiraj Pyakurel 0009-0009-6468-8661

Tulasha Gautam 0009-0003-0405-9384

Animesh Khadka 0000-0002-1773-1366

Ravi Acharya 0009-0003-4122-289X

Publication Date
Submission Date January 28, 2025
Acceptance Date March 10, 2025
Published in Issue Year 2025 Volume: 7 Issue: 1

Cite

APA Poudel, R., Yadav, P. K., Baniya, A., Bharati, R., et al. (n.d.). Digital soil mapping for soil fertility analysis: A case study of Rong Rural Municipality, Ilam, Nepal. Turkish Journal of Food and Agriculture Sciences, 7(1), 66-79. https://doi.org/10.53663/turjfas.1628699
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