Assessment of soil fertility and nutrient distribution for enhanced soil health and field management through an innovative approach

Abstract

The principal agricultural region of alfalfa, maize, and rapeseed was examined for soil nutrients. Primary statistics for a parameter were maximum, minimum, mean, standard deviation, coefficient of variation, skewness, and kurtosis. Some parameters had non-normal distributions and were statistically significant. Sodium has 97% fluctuation, whereas pH has 5%. Datasets for acidity, organic matter, sand, and silt are typically disseminated. The available iron varied from 0.06 to 8.84 mg/kg, and manganese, copper, zinc, and lime from 0.23 to 20.96 mg/kg. Total nitrogen ranged from 0.02% to 0.82%. Highly variable macronutrient variation coefficient. Thus, the critical limits for elements and physicochemical characteristics were 4.5, 6, 0.7, and 0.8 mg/kg. Soil nutrients may be mapped to compare nutritional status and indicate regional strengths and weaknesses. These maps can prescribe fertilizers for different crops without overusing them, incurring financial losses and environmental harm. This study standardizes macronutrient spatial distribution maps and soil physicochemical parameters to calculate the evaluation index. In ArcGIS 10.8, the fuzzy linear membership function was used to standardize these maps within the range of 0–1. The index map is then categorized into four types using Jenks Natural Breaks. This study found severe iron, manganese, copper, zinc, and phosphorus deficiencies in Sharif Abad agricultural soil. Environmental and human causes caused iron deficiency in this region. Manganese shortages were rare, while copper deficits were widespread in the north, west, and southwest, with 37% of the area below the critical level.