Spatial Variability Analysis of Soil Properties Using Geospatial Technique in Katni District of Madhya Pradesh, India

This study was conducted in Katni district of Madhya Pradesh India to map the spatial variability of major soil properties using geospatial technique. Surface soil samples of 505 locations (0-15 cm) were collected by random sampling strategy using GPS. Soil physico-chemical properties were measured in laboratory. In this paper we execute and compare the accuracy of various ordinary kriging methods. Spatial variability of soil physico-chemical properties was quantified through semi-variogram analysis and the relevant surface maps were prepared through ordinary kriging. Exponential model fits well with experimental semi-variogram of pH, OC, available N, P, K, S and Zn, where as in case of electric conductivity best fitted model was spherical. Coefficient of variation of soil properties showed large variability with greatest variation observed in Zn (140%) while EC, OC, N, P, and K has displayed moderate spatial variation whereas the smallest variation was in pH (14.16% ). In case of EC and P the goodness of prediction (G) had a negative value while N, P, K, pH, Zn and S shows positive value. The pH value in north-east part of the study area was alkaline and in the south-west portion of area was acidic in nature. Correlation coefficient between soil nutrients shows strong positive relationship between Nitrogen and organic carbon (r= 0.955). Cross validation of kriged map shows that spatial prediction of soil nutrients using semi-variogram parameters is better than assuming mean of observed value for any un-sampled location.