Soil Fertility Management for Sustainable Agriculture: A Case Studyof District Bahawalnagar, Pakistan

Abstract

The study was conducted to classify soil of crop growing areas of District Bahawalnagar with respect to low, satisfactory and high soil fertility status for better management of the whole area. A total of 3624 soil samples collected from all tehsils of Bahawalnagar district (888 samples from Bahawalnagar, 743 samples from Chishtian, 528 samples from Fort Abbas, 573 samples from Haroon Abad and 892 soil samples from Minchin Abad) were tested in Soil and Water Testing Laboratory, Bahawalpur, Pakistan during 2011-2013.Soil characteristics of Bahawalnagar district were evaluated through physical and chemical analysis. Representative soil samples received/collected from farmers fields were analyzed for texture, electrical conductivity (EC), pH, organic matter (OM), available phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) contents. Texture of the soils varied from sandy loam to loam. About 66% soils had EC values within the normal range (< 4 dS m^-1). The pH values of 94% soils ranged from 7.5 to 8.5 with an average of 8.03 and 5% soils had pH > 8.5. About 99% soils were poor( < 0.86%) in organic matter and only 1% samples had satisfactory level of organic matter(0.86-1.29%).About 68% soils were poor(<7 ppm) in available phosphorus, 23 % samples had satisfactory level of  available phosphorus(7-14 ppm) and only 9% samples had adequate level of available phosphorus (>14 ppm) contents. The K status of most of soils was in satisfactory (58%) and adequate range (30%).

The objective of present study is to assess the soil fertility and salinity status of Bahawalnagar district for formulation of optimum fertilizer recommendations for different crops grown in the area.

Key words: Soil Analysis, EC, pH, SOM, P, K, Bahawalnagar