ASSESSMENT OF SOIL FERTILITY STATUS OF OILSEED RESEARCH PROGRAM, NAWALPUR, SARLAHI, NEPAL

Soil fertility evaluation is most basic decision making tool for the sustainable soil nutrient management of a particular area. Thus, the present study was carried out to assess the soil fertility status of the Oilseed Research Program (ORP), Nawalpur, Sarlahi, Nepal. The study area is situated at the latitude 27o 3’35.8’’N and longitude 85035’15.4”E as well 130masl altitude. A total of 38 soil samples were randomly collected based on the variability of land at a depth of 0-20 cm. A GPS device was used to identify the location of the soil sampling points. Soil samples were analyzed for texture, pH, OM, N, P2O5, K2O, Ca, Mg, S, B, Fe, Zn, Cu and Mn status following standard analytic methods in the laboratory of Soil Science Division, Khumaltar. The Arc-GIS 10.1 was used to prepare the soil fertility status maps. Assessment of soil test data showed that the structure was angular to sub-angular blocky and varied between brown- yellowish brown and dark grayish brown in colour. The sand, silt and clay content were 40.79±1.53%, 42.44±1.01% and 16.77±0.64%, respectively and categorized as loam and sandy loam in texture. The soil was acidic in pH (5.03±0.04) and low in extractable calcium (697.89±30 ppm), available sulphur (2.15± 0.19 ppm) and available zinc (0.92±0.07 ppm). Whereas, organic matter (2.02±0.11%), total nitrogen (0.1±0.001 %), extractable magnesium (109.89± 13.21ppm) and available copper (0.92±0.38 ppm) were medium in status. While, available phosphorus (51.83±4.68 ppm), extractable potassium (128.97±8.42 ppm), available boron (1.24±0.09 ppm) and available manganese (13.53±1.02 ppm) status were high. Similarly, available iron (107.2±10.5 ppm) contains very high status. From this study, it can be concluded that for enhancing efficacy of the oilseed crops research, future research strategy should be built based on the soil fertility status of the research farm.