Salinity & Fertility Status of Irrigated soils in District Nankana Sahib, Punjab, Pakistan

Abstract

The soil is the medium or habitat for plant growth as a mother to supply the water and nutrients. The fertility and salinity status of soils contribute a major role in enhancing crop productivity. The current exploration was carried out to characterize the soils of Tehsil Nankana Sahib (Nankana, Shahkot, Sangilla) for their salinity, sodicity and fertility status at the union council level from 2018-19 to 2020-21. A total of 2030 soil samples were collected from three Tehsils of District Nankana Sahib, Punjab, Pakistan. The results indicated that the soil salinity status about 33.9% (690 samples) soils of Nankana Sahib was non-saline, 23.6% (480 samples) saline-sodic, 28.5% (580 samples) sodic and only 13.8% (280 samples) were saline. Across these tehsils, maximum problematic soils were found in tehsil Nankana Sahib while minimum in Sangilla. As for the soil fertility status of District Nankana Sahib is concerned, 60.1% of soils were poor in organic matter (OM) that is observed in 1220 samples, and 39.1% medium-range organic matter is observed from the 794 samples while 7.8% from the only 160 samples that is approaching the adequate range. The available phosphorus in soils was found poor among 26.1% (530 samples), 56.1% medium (1140 samples) and the adequate range of available phosphorus is 17.7% (360 samples). Textural class analysis indicated that most of the soils of District Nankana Sahib were loam having 67% soils (1360 samples), followed by 34.8% (708 samples) clay and the least 1.6% (32 samples) were found sandy soils. When the examinations are compared at the Tehsil level, Tehsil Nankana had the most deficient in organic matter that contributes 60% of total soil under observation while Sangilla had minimum deficiency (58.3%) OM. In the same way, maximum soils 33%) of Sangilla were deficient in available phosphorus while minimum was in Tehsil Nankana Sahib (21.8%).