Evaluation of soil fertility status of adopted villages in Hoshiarpur district of Punjab

Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Hoshiarpur analyzed 267 geo referenced soil samples from the adopted villages viz., Todarpur, Bachhohi, Budhabar, Chaggran and Jhonowal to determine the soil fertility status. The soil parameters i.e. soil pH, soil organic carbon, available phosphorus, available potassium, available zinc, available iron, available manganese and available copper were determined. The soil pH varied from 6.5-9.3. Maximum soil samples i.e. 100 per cent from villages Bachhohi, Chaggran and Jhonowal fall under neutral category and 47.8 per cent soil samples from village Todarpur belong to moderately alkaline category. The electrical conductivity of the soil samples of different villages ranged from 0.16-0.67 mmhos/cm. In case of soil organic carbon, 36.8 per cent soil samples from village Bachhohi fall under low soil organic carbon category, 68.3 per cent soil samples from village Jhonowal fall under medium soil organic carbon category and 72.5 per cent soil samples from village Todarpur fall under high soil organic carbon category. The minimum available phosphorus (4.4 kg/acre) in the soil samples was observed in the village Bachhohi while maximum available phosphorus (13.8 kg/acre) was observed in the soil samples of village Budhabar. The soil samples of different villages except Budhabar fall under low potassium category. Majority of the soil samples from different villages belong to normal zinc and iron category. The available manganese from different villages ranged from 0.98-48.18 kg/acre. All the soil samples from different villages belong to normal copper category.