Assessment of Soil Fertility Status in Gomati and South Tripura District, Tripura, India

Abstract

Aims: Geo-referencing of the important physico-chemical and nutrient parameters of Gomati and South Tripura is the prime objective of this study. Study Design: Random sampling followed by laboratory tests of important properties of soil were derived to conduct a cross-sectional survey of soil fertility. Place and Duration of Study: This experiment was carried out in Gomati and South Tripura districts of Tripura, India. The entire work was commenced at the College of Agriculture, Tripura during November, 2024 to June 2025. Methodology: Using random sampling method, geo-referenced soil samples (0-15 cm depth) were collected followed by dried (air-drying), sieved (2 mm) and inspected with regard to texture, bulk density, water-holding capacity, soil penetration, pH, electrical conductivity, soil organic carbon and available N, P2O5, K2O, Ca+Mg, S and CEC using standard methods of analysis. Correlation analysis and descriptive statistics were carried out.  Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW), the special interpolation technique has been used for predicting the values of non-sampled periphery of the sampled locations. Results: Primarily most soil textured as sandy loam with bulk density ranging within 1.10-1.60 mg m-3; pH was ranged extremely acidic to strongly acidic (4.14-5.70) and Organic carbon ranged from 0.45-2.65%. Available nutrients were diversified: Nitrogen (87.81-225.79 kg ha-1), Phosphate (7.70-43.63 kg ha-1), Potash (60.58-451.89 kg ha-1), Calcium & Magnesium (157.01-753.67 kg ha-1) and Sulphur (0.07-18.92 kg ha-1) but CEC had a mean of 12.29-20.84 cmol kg-1. The correlation coefficient is closely related between SOC and available N (r = 0.574) and between CEC and Ca+Mg (r = 0.999). Conclusion: Gomati and South Tripura are mostly made up of sands and loam soils that are highly acidic with lower availability of nitrogen, phosphate, calcium, magnesium and sulphur; but possess medium CEC due to moderate to high SOC levels. Sustainable crop production in these districts can be advocated to be done using soil acidity-tolerant legumes, site-specific nutrient management and GIS-based mapping of soil fertility.