Soil Analysis plays a vital role in the agricultural sector to determine the nutrient content, composition & other critical characteristics including acidity/pH levels.  This is an indispensable tool for assessing the soil fertility/health and arriving at appropriate fertilizer recommendations.  To evaluate the soil quality, farmers have to collect soil samples randomly as per benchmark procedures and take it to the testing labs for analyses and wait for few days to collect the result.  To avoid such cumbersome procedures and to make the soil health analysis easy and user-friendly for the farmers, CSIR-Central Electrochemical Research Institute (CSIR-CECRI), Karaikudi along with Agricultural College and Research Institute, Madurai under Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore has developed and tested the Smart Soil Test Prototype Kit for its field trials.  This Kit could be used to assess the concentration levels of primary nutrients N-P-K [Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P) and Potassium (K)], electrical conductivity (EC), and pH of the soil by the field officials / farmers themselves within a few minutes.  Based on the information collated, recommendations for appropriate fertilizer plan for a particular crop could be arrived at enabling a quick, efficient and economical agricultural activity.  The highlight of the developed prototype is its capability of analyzing all the essential soil health parameters onsite and within a short duration of 15-20 minutes.

 

On 02.02.2022 (Wednesday), the CSIR-CECRI developed soil testing kit was handed over to
Dr. Senthur Kumaran, Director, Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Kundrakudi, in the presence of Kundrakudi Thavathiru Ponnambala Adigalar by Dr. N. Kalaiselvi, Director, CSIR-CECRI. 
Dr. J. Mathiyarasu, Sr. Principal Scientist, CSIR-CECRI, Karaikudi the inventor of the kit gave a live demo of its functioning.  Dr. K. Balakrishnan, former Deputy Director, CSIR-CECRI and Chairman of Kundrakudi Village Planning Forum was present during the event. 

 

On 03.02.2022 (Thursday) Mr. P. Madhusudhan Reddy, IAS, Collector of Sivaganga District visited CSIR-CECRI, Karaikudi  along with district officials and witnessed the demonstration of the Smart Soil Testing (SST) Kit by the inventor Dr. J. Mathiyarasu, Sr. Principal Scientist, CSIR-CECRI, Karaikudi in the presence of Dr. N. Kalaiselvi, Director, CSIR-CECRI, Karaikudi.  In the presence of Collector, Director, CSIR – CECRI handed over few kits  to the District Agriculture Department  Officials, Govt. of Tamil Nadu for field trials in various blocks across the District.  Dr. P. Kannan, Assistant Professor, Agricultural College and Research Institute, Madurai,   Dr. Senthur Kumaran, Director, Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Kundrakudi. Dr. K. Venkateshwaran, Joint Director (Agriculture), Sivaganga District, Mrs. S. Shanmuga Jayanthi, Assistant Director (Agriculture), Sakkottai Block and Dr. K. Balakrishnan, former Deputy Director, CSIR-CECRI and Chairman of Kundrakudi Village Planning Forum were present during the event.

(Release ID: 1795616)