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Mapping of Site-specific Soil Spatial Variability by Geostatistical Technique for Textural Fractions in a Terrace Soil of Bangladesh

Md. Noor-E-Alam Siddique
Senior Scientific Officer (SSO)
Soil Resource Development Institute (SRDI), Ministry of Agriculture, District Office, Pabna, Bangladesh

Mohammad Monirul Islam
Associate Professor
Dept. of Agronomy, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh

Md. Abdul Halim
Senior Scientific Officer (SSO)
SRDI, District office, Dinajpur, Bangladesh

Md. Kamaruzzaman
Principal Scientific Officer
SRDI, Regional office, Rajshahi, Bangladesh

Dilruba Karim
SSO
DPS Section, SRDI, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Jakia Sultana
Dept. of Organic Agriculture, Wageningen University, the Netherlands

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

An assessment of field-scale variation of textural fractions was investigated by soil sampling, laboratory analysis and eventually soil mapping by geostatistical techniques and GIS development for a terrace soil of Bangladesh to determine clay distribution throughout the soil in three depth increment (0-30 cm, 30-60 cm, 60-90 cm). The mean particle size distribution of topsoil corresponded to silt loam texture class while subsoil textural distributions were clay loam, silty clay and silty clay loam. The deep soil clearly corresponded to clay texture class. The topsoil texture fractions showed large variability in comparison to subsoil and deep soil. The clay content sharply increases with depths. The mean clay contents were 23%, 38% and 43% for the 0-30 cm, 30-60 cm and 60-90 cm depth increments respectively. The subsoil showed distinctly higher clay content than the overlying topsoil causing an abrupt textural change between top and subsoil. The subsoil clay content was nearly twice that of the topsoil, and even more in the deep soil with a maximum around 50%. This textural difference might be caused by an alluvial accumulation of clay or by pedogenetic formation of clay in the subsoil or destruction of clay in the surface horizon or by a combination of two or more of these processes. The soil maps produced through geostatistical technique fairly represents the distribution of textural fractions of the studied site. The maps represent the spatial variation of soil textural properties for clay and sand distribution. Thus, provide useful information on soil texture, moisture, soil fertility and organic matter content. These maps also provide a means of monitoring spatial variation of soil properties that potentially influence crop production in the Terrace soils of Bangladesh.

Keywords: Terrace soil, Textural fractions, Semivariogram, Kriging, Soil spatial variability, Soil mapping

Location: Birol Upazila, Dinajpur district, Bangladesh implemented by Central laboratory, Soil Resource Development Institute (SRDI), Bangladesh.

Start Date: 00-03-2011

End Date: 00-11-2013

Program Area: Crop-Soil-Water Management

Commodity: Land management

Objectives:

To prepare the soil maps governing the within field variability of textural fractions to enable optimum soil management and drainage for crop production in the terrace areas Bangladesh.

Methodology:

Location, geology and soil characteristics of Terrace soil of Bangladesh: The terrace study site lies between latitude 25° 39'29" N and longitude 88°35'44" E in Birol Upazila, Dinajpur district, Bangladesh. The terrace soils, commonly known as Barind Tract (BT), are in the Pleistocene physiographic unit which occupies a nearly level to gently undulating landscape. This is mostly made up of older alluvium which differs from the surrounding floodplain. BT is floored by Pleistocene sediments which is compact and sticky known as the Madhupur Clay (MC). Major part of this tract is poorly drained, mottled, silty top soil merged with MC at shallower depth. The BT is fragmented, being made up separate uplifted fault blocks in the north eastern part of the country. It covers a total area of approximately 7,770 km² (Brammer, 2002 and 1996).The soil belongs to Amnura soil series and subgroup-Aeric Haplaquept and order-Inceptisols in the USDA Soil Taxonomy. The cultivated layer is puddled and reduced in the monsoon season and under irrigated rice in the dry season. The soil becomes white and powdery when dry. The reaction is medium or strongly acidic when dry but the surface layer becomes neutral in reduced condition. The subsoil has a mixed yellowish brown and grey, red mottled, silty loam or silty clay loam texture which is commonly friable and porous. The soil shows a pronounced increase in mottles and clay content with depth. The substratum is strongly structured and compacted heavy plastic clay. The soil bears low natural fertility and has low moisture holding capacity. Soil sampling design: The field was sampled according to a grid sampling design at 104 locations on a 17 by 10 m grid basis from a representative area of 2.02 ha. Composite soil samples were collected from a radius of 1 m. Soil samples were taken at three depth increments (0-30 cm, 30-60 cm and 60-90 cm) through augering from the marked geo-referenced locations. The samples were analyzed by the Central laboratory, Soil Resource Development Institute (SRDI), Bangladesh. Soil physical analysis: Texture was determined by Hydrometer method described by Day, 1965. The pH was determined by a glass-electrode pH meter in the soil suspension having a soil:water ratio of 1:2.5, after 30 minutes of shaking. Statistical and Geostatistical analysis: The data analyses were conducted in three stages: i) Distribution was analyzed by classical statistics. Skewness is considered as the most common form of departure from normality. The exploratory statistical analyses were performed by PASW 18.0 (Predictive Analytics Software) Statistics, ii) to find out the spatial structure of the selected soil properties, variography was used, variograms were calculated and modelled with VARIOWIN 2.2 software (Pannatier, 1996) and iii) the kriged maps of spatial distribution of selected soil properties were constructed using SURFER Version 9.2 software (Golden Software, Inc.). Ordinary kriging was used throughout GIS development for mapping.

Source of Information: Journal of Bioscience and Agriculture Research (JBAR) Vol. 01 (01): 08-16, 2014

Article Link (Online Journal):

Funding Source:

1. Government

Budget:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

Optimized soil characterization and soil management for a sustainable cropping system could be initiated based on the findings of the study. Additionally, the lateral extent and depth of clayey substratum could be identified for the terrace soils using this geostatistical technique of soil mapping by a more deliberately weighted and adapted frameworks implemented over larger terrace areas of Bangladesh.

Knowledge Management: Journal