Evaluation of Paddy Soil Fertility Using Integrated Fertility Index

The rapid growth in world population and its consequent increasing food demand require a scientific approach to paddy field productivity. To further increase rice production, the best solution is enhancing the rice yields per unit area. There are numerous integrated indices that can clarify the soil conditions and fertility characteristics, in which the integrated fertility index (IFI) is more practical. Therefore, the current study will explore soil fertility status of paddy field using IFI equation, and more broadly to issue suitable solutions for paddy soil management. This study was undertaken at Goldasht research station of the rice research institute of Iran-Amol. One hundred and twenty-eight paddy soil composite samples of plowing layer (depths of 0 to 30 cm) with a constant interval were collected to analyze for some physical and chemical properties based on rice soil requirements. Fuzzy logic theory, Principal component analysis (PCA) and IFI concepts were used for quantitative ranking of qualitative soil characters, weighing of soil properties and integration of studied soil characters, respectively. The results indicated that IFI values varied from 0.03 to 0.20. The studied paddy fields were divided into 4 individual parts through IFI values mapping method. At lower values of IFI (low soil fertility), pH, available P, OC and less broadly total N were lower than their critical levels for proper rice growth and development. Interestingly at higher values of IFI, OC and total N limitation still existed. It can be concluded that organic carbon limitation in all studied plots had negative and unavoidable effects on not only paddy soil fertility status (a vital role for sorption and desorption of soil nutrients), but also soil physical characters (enhancing soil structure, porosity, and water retention). The findings of current study also showed that the integrated fertility indices not only can show the most important limitations for rice production but also can issue the effective solutions to remediate these limitations. Key words: Rice, soil fertility, integrated fertility index, fuzzy logic, geostatistics