How To Collect Soil Samples for Soil Testing

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How To Collect Soil Samples for Soil Testing




Soil Testing

Soil testing is the method of collecting soil samples, which is a true representative of that area, and testing that sample in a laboratory for soil quality and nutrition availability of that area.
After getting soil test report of our field we can go for application of different types fertilizers with proper dosage.


Points to be considered for soil sample collection.

  1. Collect the soil sample during no crop period.
  2. In the standing crop, collect samples between rows.
  3. Separate soil samples to be collected from fields that differ in colour, slope, drainage, soil management practices like liming, gypsum application, fertilization, cropping system etc.
  4. Avoid sampling near wet spots, areas near main bund, trees, manure heaps and irrigation channels.
  5. Collect Soil samples up to 15 cm depth for shallow rooted crops and 30 cm depth for deep rooted crops and for trees collect soil profile as a sample.
  6. a soil sample should be collected in presence of the farm owner who knows the farm better. 


Guidelines for sampling depth

S.No.
Crop
Soil sampling depth
Inches
cm
1
Grasses and grasslands
2
5
2
Rice, finger millet, groundnut, pearl millet, small millets etc.(shallow rooted crops)
6
15
3
Cotton, sugarcane, banana, tapioca, vegetables etc. (deep rooted crops)
9
22
4
Perennial crops, plantations and orchard crops
Three soil samples at 12, 24 and  36 inches
Three soil samples at 30, 60 and 90 cm



HOW TO COLLECT SOIL SAMPLES:

Materials required.

a) Spade (Fabda)/ Khurpi / Auger/Soil Probe
b) Sampling bag
c) Plastic bucket
d) Plastic Mat


PROCEDURE
  1. Divide the field into zig-zag manner, where samples are to be collected.
  2. Remove the surface litter(unwanted materials) at the sampling spot.
  3. Drive the auger or soil probe to a depth of 15 cm and draw the soil sample.
  4. If an auger/probe is not available, make a ‘V’ shaped cut to a depth of 15 cm in the sampling spot using spade.
  5. Cut and take a thick slice of soil (1 inch slice) from one side of the ‘V’ cut from top to bottom and place in a clear container. Collect at least 15-20 soil samples.
  6. Mix the samples collected  thoroughly in the container and remove the foreign materials like roots, stones, gravels etc. 
  7. Quartering:-It is a procedure to reduce the soil sample collected to about half to one kilogram. Divide the mixed sample into 4 equal parts in a plastic mat. Remove two opposite quarters and mix the remaining two quarters, repeat the procedure until half to  one kilogram sample collected.
  8.  Dry the sample in shade (Do not dry under sun) for an hour. Then collect the soil sample in   a clean polythene bag.
  9.  Label the bag with some information like name of the farmer, location of the farm, survey number,  previous crop grown, present crop, crop to be grown in the next season, date of collection, name of the sampler etc.
  10. Give the sample to the nearest soil testing laboratory and after testing get a soil health card.

Soil Health Card

Soil health card (SHC) is a printed report that a farmer will be handed over to assess/analyse the current status of his field soil health.

12 parameters are analysed in the SHC like

N, P, K (Macronutrients)
S (Secondary Nutrients)
Zn, Fe, Cu, Mn, Bo (Micronutrients)

PH, EC, Organic Carbon (Physical parameters)

Conclusion

Soil testing should be done to analyse the soil health as it minimizes the input cost to farmers and maintain a good soil and environmental health for our future generation.


USEFUL LINKS


1) Locate Soil testing laboratory near you (INDIA)

https://soilhealth.dac.gov.in/PublicReports/STL

2) Fertiliser dose calculation

https://soilhealth.dac.gov.in/calculator/calculator



If the article is helpful, Please give your views. Thank you.

2 Comments

  1. Unknown9:47 am, June 13, 2020

    Jhakash very good

    ReplyDelete
  2. AAALandsurveycompany12:53 pm, March 23, 2023

    Well-written Article. You have shared helpful information here. I am delighted to read it. Thanks a lot for sharing. The AAA Group R.E. Servicing Corp conducts various types of soil and groundwater investigations and samples and prepares the reports required by the Building Department. So if anyone is searching for the best , Soil Contamination Testing In NY , AAA Group will be the best option. They have a team of experts to clarify all soil testing service points.

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