Soil Testing Services
Soil Testing Laboratory
Soil testing laboratory has facilities to test the pH, EC, Organic Carbon, Available N, P, K, Boron, Sulphur and Micronutrient (DTPA-Extractable-Zn, Cu, Mn & Fe) on the payment basis.The Payment details about soil testing parameters with their respective cost for farmers and other Govt. /Private organizations are given bellow in the table :
| S. N. |
Type of Test |
Rate(Rs) for farmers (per Soil sample) |
Rate(Rs) for Govt./Private/Other organizations (per soil sample) |
| 1. |
Soil pH, EC, Organic Carbon, Avail. P and K |
25 |
100 |
| 2. |
Avail. Micronutrient (DTPA- Extractable Zn, Cu, Mn and Fe) |
60 |
200 |
| 3. |
Available N |
30 |
75 |
| 4. |
Available Sulphur |
20 |
50 |
| 5. |
Available Boron |
60 |
100 |
| 6. |
Irrigation Water |
30 |
100 |
| 7. |
Soil Health Card |
10 |
10 |
Benefits of Soil Health Card (SHC)
The SHC is a complete evaluation of the quality of soil right from its functional characteristics, to water and nutrients content and other biological properties. It will also contain corrective measures that a farmer should adopt to obtain a better yield. It benefits farmers’ in the following ways:
The farmers will get a well-monitored report of the soil which is chosen for the cultivation of crops.
The monitoring will be done on a regular basis.
The farmers will be guided by experts to come up with solutions to improve the quality of the soil.
Regular monitoring will help the farmers to get a long-term soil health record and accordingly can study and evaluate the results of different soil management practices.
This card can become most helpful and effective when filled out regularly by the same person over a period of time.
The idea is not to compare the varied soil types but to find out methods to improve soil fertility, to access the different types of soil and their ability to support crop production in spite of their limitations and as per their abilities.
The soil card will help the farmers to get an idea on the crop-wise recommendations of nutrients and fertilizers required in each type of soil. This can help in increasing the crop yield.
SHC Portal
In order to make the scheme more successful, the government of India, along with the agriculture department of India, has launched a SHC agriculture portal. In fact, two other agri-portals have been recently launched–Fertiliser Quality Control System and Participatory Guarantee System portal. The farmers need to register at the web portal www.soilhealth.dac.gov.in along with the details of the soil samples and test lab reports. Once registered, the farmer can keep a track of the following in the portal:
Soil Samples Registration
Test results by soil testing labs
Fertilizer and nutrients recommendations
SHC generation
MIS module for monitoring progress
The basic objective behind the launch of the web portal is to create a single national database on soil health which can be used in the future for research and planning both by farmers and soil experts. Right now the portal is in English. Very soon, it will have content in regional languages too.