News Letter Jan-Jun 2016 (ICAR-IISS, Bhopal)

Spectroscopic Techniques for Soil Characterization The fundamental ability of a soil to continually provide ecosystem sustaining functions is ensured by preserving its health and taking immediate measures to restore it whenever necessary. This requires continuous acquisition of relevant soil property information. Several methods have been developed to obtain soil quality information. Traditionally, soil health information has been obtained through conventional laboratory analysis. This is, however, time consuming, labour intensive and costly. Diffuse reflectance infrared spectroscopy (IR) is an evolving technology for rapid, non-destructive characterization of the composition of soil based on the interaction of electromagnetic energy with matter. Internationally, considerable research effort is going on for developing near infra-red (NIR) and middle infra-red (MIR) calibrations for rapid estimation of soil parameters. The application of infrared spectroscopy in soil fertility is largely dependent on spectra pre-treatment and multivariate calibration due to strong interferences in the spectra. Partial least square (PLS), random forest (RF) and artificial neural network (ANN) are widely used mathematical tools in the prediction of soil properties and generation of information on soil health. Due to advances in spectrometer hardware, computing and statistical software, MIR spectroscopy have shown great potential compared to the NIR spectroscopy for fast, accurate and cheap soil analysis with particular application in the field and where high spatial density is needed. Over the last two decades or so, the application of MIR spectroscopy has come under increasing investigation for the analysis of soils. To make full use of soil MIR spectra, soil spectral library construction is needed and standardized chemometric models are required to be constructed for regional or localized prediction of soil properties. Recently, different prediction models for soil properties are being developed by this institute in collaboration withWorld Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), Nairobi using partial least square (PLS) regression and random forest regression techniques. The chemometric models developed for black soils of Madhya Pradesh are being validated with independent data set. The infrared spectra of soil can be used as an integrated measure of soil quality, so as to classify sites according to their degradation status or for monitoring the effect of an ecological factor on soil quality. X-ray fluorescent spectroscopic techniques supplement soil analysis by quantitatively estimating the elemental composition of soil samples. This is very useful for identification of heavy metal contamination in soils irrigated with sewage sludge in the peri-urban areas and also for micro-nutrient analysis of soil. This ICAR-IISS newsletter entails the work done by the institute scientists on different aspects of soil science research, extension and capacity building during the period January-June, 2016. During this period, the institute continued to work on different aspects of conservation agriculture and demonstrated the best conservation agriculture practices on farmers' field. The institute has also done work on soil carbon modeling and climate change scenarios. During this period, institute scientists initiated the work on in situ decomposition of residues and enhancement of soil health, which will have larger implication in the years to come as residue burning is a challenging problem before the agricultural scientist. The institute scientists were bestowed with different awards, fellowships and foreign visits during this period. I firmly believe that with the active involvement of scientists in institute activities, we shall definitely attain the goal of food sufficiency with minimal environmental degradation.Spectroscopic Techniques for Soil Characterization The fundamental ability of a soil to continually provide ecosystem sustaining functions is ensured by preserving its health and taking immediate measures to restore it whenever necessary. This requires continuous acquisition of relevant soil property information. Several methods have been developed to obtain soil quality information. Traditionally, soil health information has been obtained through conventional laboratory analysis. This is, however, time consuming, labour intensive and costly. Diffuse reflectance infrared spectroscopy (IR) is an evolving technology for rapid, non-destructive characterization of the composition of soil based on the interaction of electromagnetic energy with matter....Not Availabl