Manual of Soil Laboratory Testing

Nutrients are the key element in augmenting food production in India which has been confirmed right from the Era of Green Revolution in India. Despite our diverse efforts for sustainable crop production, the imbalance in N, P, and K exists and often continues. Apart from this, deficiency of secondary nutrients (especially S) and micronutrients (mainly Zn, Fe, and B) are becoming widespread in the Indian soils, leading to micronutrient malnutrition, ‘Hidden Hunger’ and its impact on low yield in most of the field crops. Understanding the role of nutrients and their concentration in soil/plant parts, analyzing uptake patterns, and complementing soil fertility status will enhance nutrient use efficiency, factor productivity, and optimum crop response. This will assist in the application of balanced use of nutrients. It triggers appropriate action or remedies for enhancing nutrient use efficiency, profitability, crop response and factor productivity. In an agricultural ecosystem, soil and plants are indispensable for food production. For conservation and judicious use of natural resources, analysis of soil and plants is of utmost importance. Therefore, for the application of inputs or management of crops to be sustainable, testing of soil/plant parts in respect of plant nutrients is a must, and qualitative and quantitative analysis in respect of nutrients is mandatory to arrive at the correct conclusion/recommendation. This laboratory manual contains concepts, principles, materials, equipment, methods, calculations and interpretations, and estimation of soil properties ( such as soil pH, EC, OM, N,P,K., etc) moreover, clear and easy words/sentences have been used in this manual for better clarity of the analytical methods used. This manual is a tool for soil testing and chemical quality control in research laboratories for advancing research and preparing a Soil Health Card for the farmers known as the first step towards sustainable agriculture. This information is useful in up-gradation of the existing knowledge of all those persons associated/interested in the subjects concerned with plant nutrition, fertilizer use efficiency, and crop productivity including researchers, policymakers, technocrats, and students ensuring Soil Health with Better Nutrition. This manual is edited and crafted by Miss Diksha Vishwakarma who is a renowned research scholar with more than 8 citations and no. of reads of research papers worked as a Contractual Teacher in the department of Soil Science & Agricultural Chemistry, R.A.K. College of Agriculture, Sehore M.P. RVSKVV Gwalior. and co-author Dr. S.C. Gupta Principal Scientist/professor & Head of the Department Soil Science & Agricultural Chemistry, R.A.K. College of Agriculture, Sehore M.P. RVSKVV Gwalior