Spatial Variability of Selected Chemical Characteristics of Paddy Soils in Sawah Sempadan, Selangor, Malaysia
A study was conducted to evaluate the spatial variability of selected soil chemical properties of paddy soils in the Barat Laut Paddy Project area in Selangor. A total of 138 geo-referenced soil samples were collected from the area at 0-20 cm depth after harvest, at an interval of 80-90 m to dete...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English English |
| Published: |
Malaysian Society of Soil Science
2010
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| Online Access: | http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/11324/ http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/11324/1/Spatial_Variability_of_Selected_Chemical_Characteristics.pdf |
| Summary: | A study was conducted to evaluate the spatial variability of selected soil chemical
properties of paddy soils in the Barat Laut Paddy Project area in Selangor. A
total of 138 geo-referenced soil samples were collected from the area at 0-20 cm
depth after harvest, at an interval of 80-90 m to determine the selected chemical
properties: pH, organic carbon, total nitrogen (N), available phosphorus (P) and
exchangeable potassium (K). Geostatistical analyses were applied to examine the
within-field spatial variability using semivariograms and kriged maps. Kriged
maps for each property were prepared using geostatistical software package based
on the results of spatial dependence. The effective ranges for the areas were about
6 km for pH, 1 km for organic carbon, 8 km for total N and available P and 9
km for exchangeable K, respectively. Kriged maps produced showed that most
of the area have pH values within the range of 4-4.5 (moderately acidic) and high
amount of organic carbon content (3-5%). The kriged maps also showed that a
large portion of the study area (66%) have high total N (0.30-0.40%), with low
amount of available P (< 40 mg kg-1) covering 70% of the total study area, while
most of the area have optimum content of exchangeable K (> 0.10 cmol(+) kg-1).
These results suggest the need for a site specific approach in managing paddy soils
particularly with regard to nutrient management. The results also suggested that
future soil sampling in these area can be carried out by increasing the sampling
interval depending on the soil properties, and appropriate management should be
applied according to the variations which exist. |
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