Soil & Tillage Research 163 (2016) 282289

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Soil & Tillage Research

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/still

Spatial variability of soil micronutrients in the intensively cultivated

Trans-Gangetic Plains of India
Arvind K. Shuklaa,* , Sanjib K. Beherab , Narendra K. Lenkaa , Pankaj K. Tiwaria ,
Chandra Prakasha , R.S. Malikc , Nishant K. Sinhaa , V.K. Singhd, Ashok K. Patraa ,
S.K. Chaudharye
a

ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil Science, Nabibagh, Berasia Road, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, 462038, India
ICAR-Indian Institute of Oil Palm Research, Pedavegi, West Godavari, Andhra Pradesh, 534450, India
c
ChaudharyCharan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, Haryana, 125004, India
d
ICAR-Indian Institute of Farming System Research, Modipuram, Meerut, UP, 250110, India
e
Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi, 110012, India
b

A R T I C L E I N F O

Article history:
Received 13 October 2015
Received in revised form 6 July 2016
Accepted 11 July 2016
Available online xxx
Keywords:
Indo-Gangetic Plain
Cationic micronutrient
Spatial distribution
Geostatistics
Semivariogram
Precision farming

A B S T R A C T

Soil micronutrient deciency adversely affects crop production in intensive agriculture. However,
information on the spatial variability of key micronutrients in intensively cultivated regions of India is
limited. Thus, the present study was carried out in the Trans-Gangetic Plains (TGP) region of India with
the hypothesis that spatial variability of micronutrient availability is high due to small farms and varied
management. The major objectives of the study were (i) to assess the spatial variability of plant available
micronutrients, viz. extractable zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), manganese (Mn) and iron (Fe) at a regional scale
through geostatistical methods, (ii) to develop distribution maps for soil micronutrients using ordinary
kriging and (iii) to assess the relationships of micronutrient availability with several soil properties. A
total of 5638 soil samples, representative of the surface (015 cm) horizon were collected (covering
Inceptisols, Entisols, Alsols and Aridisols) during April to June between 2011 and 2014 from farms in 21
districts of the TGP. For each micronutrient, semivariograms were calculated and their main parameters
(nugget effect, sill and range) were obtained. Moderate spatial dependence for extractable Zn, Cu and Fe
and strong spatial dependence for extractable Mn were recorded. The nugget/sill ratio values were 0.60,
0.37, 0.34 and 0.19 for extractable Zn, Fe, Cu and Mn, respectively. Available Fe, Zn, Mn and Cu deciencies
(including acute deciencies) were observed in 28, 15, 14 and 13% of soil samples, respectively. Soil pH
showed signicant and negative correlations with the concentrations of extractable Zn, Cu, Mn and Fe;
whereas the correlation was signicant and positive with soil organic carbon (SOC) concentration. The
distribution maps generated could be used as a guide for precise and site-specic micronutrient
management in the study region.
2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) region of India, covering about
15% of the total area of the country, is one of the most intensively
cultivated regions of the world (Yadav, 1998; Singh et al., 2015). The
Indian IGP consists of four sub-regions, namely (1) Trans-Gangetic
Plains (TGP) covering the states of Punjab and Haryana, (2) Upper
Gangetic Plains covering the states of Uttarakhand and Uttar
Pradesh, (3) Middle and Lower Gangetic Plains covering the states

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: arvindshukla2k3@yahoo.co.in (A.K. Shukla).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.still.2016.07.004
0167-1987/ 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

of Bihar and West Bengal (Singh et al., 2007). Rice (Oryzasativa)

Wheat (Triticumaestivum) cropping sequence is the dominant
system in the Trans- and Upper-Gangetic Plains whereas rice based
cropping sequences are common in the middle and lower Gangetic
Plains. The role and contribution of the IGP region over the last four
decades to the food and nutrition security of India is well
documented (Yadav, 1998; Kumar et al., 2002). However, declining
groundwater table and soil degradation are the two critical
constraints for sustainable food production in the region (Kumar
et al., 2002; Singh et al., 2007), particularly in TGP.
Unsustainable intensication accompanied by imbalanced soil
nutrient management is one of the major causes of declining

A.K. Shukla et al. / Soil & Tillage Research 163 (2016) 282289

productivity and land degradation in the region (Singh et al., 2007).

Though a balanced soil nutrient management includes appropriate
mix of organics, and addition of macro- as well as micro- nutrients
through chemical fertilizers, very often the mined nutrients are not
optimally replenished. Such distortions in the soil nutrient
management are highly probable in intensively cultivated regions
such as IGP (Singh et al., 2007, 2015) primarily due to high cropping
intensity, low or non-availability of organics and over-dependence
on chemical fertilizers leading to deciency of several micronutrients.
Large scale deciency of cationic micronutrients like zinc (Zn),
copper (Cu), manganese (Mn) and iron (Fe) in different soils has
been reported world-wide (Sillanpaa 1990; Shukla et al., 2014).
Recent Indian studies report extensive deciency of micronutrients in farms due to regular withdrawal of these nutrients
through crop uptake (Shukla et al., 2014; Shukla et al., 2015). The
distribution of micronutrients may vary in space and time across
management units. In Indian soils, spatial variability in micronutrient availability is presumed to be high due to small farms and
varied management.
Geostatistical tools are useful to estimate spatial variability of
soil properties and soil nutrients at eld, catchment as well as
regional scales (Tesfahunegn et al., 2011; Tripathi et al., 2015).
Geostatistical estimation helps in predicting values at unsampled
locations by taking into account the spatial correlation between
sampled points (Webster and Oliver, 1990; Cambardella et al.,
1994). At the catchment scale, Tesfahunegn et al. (2011) reported
strong (8%) to moderate (63%) degrees of spatial dependence for
the soil properties like soil pH, soil organic carbon (SOC), total
nitrogen, available phosphorus, cation exchange capacity and
available Fe and indicated that soil properties mapped on the basis
of kriging interpolation were more accurate than the catchment
average values. Information on the spatial variability of micronutrients in Indian soils is limited. Thus, the present study in
cultivated soils of the TGP of India (one of the most intensively
cultivated regions of the country)was undertaken with the
following objectives, (i) to estimate the spatial variability of
extractable Zn, Cu, Mn and Fe at a regional scale through

283

semivariogram analysis, (ii) to assess the relationship of micronutrient availability with key soil properties, and (iii) to develop
spatial maps for soil micronutrients using the parameters of the
best-tted semivariogram model and interpolation by ordinary
kriging.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Study area
The study region is one of the two most intensively cultivated
states of the country and comprises all of the districts of Haryana
state in the TGP of India. For the study, surface (015 cm) soil
samples were collected from farms in twenty-one districts of
Haryana state (27 500 to 30 N latitude, 76 500 to 77 300 E
longitude and 2001200 metres altitude) (Fig. 1) spreading over
44212 km2. Most part of the study area experiences arid to semiarid climate except in the north-east where the climate is relatively
humid. The average annual rainfall ranges between 300 mm
(south-west) to 1300 mm (north) with a state average of 617 mm.
The weather is hot (highest mean temperature 40  C and relative
humidity 35%) in summer and cold (lowest mean temperature
7.5  C and relative humidity 55%) in winter. Soils are alluvial in
nature with sandy to sandy loam texture and belong to the
Inceptisols, Entisols, Alsols and Aridisols classes (Bhattacharyya
et al., 2013).
2.2. Soil sampling and processing
A total of 5638 geo-referenced soil samples, representative of
the surface (015 cm) horizon were collected during April to June
between 2011 and 2014 from farms in 21 districts of the TGP region
of India, following a multistage stratied random sampling
method (Cochran, 1977; Gelfand and Schliep, 2016) and using
stainless steel soil augers. The soil was sampled under the aegis of
the All India Coordinated Research Project of Micro- and Secondary
Nutrients and Pollutant Elements in Soils and Plants (AICRP-MSN),
after harvest of wheat crop. Samples were collected covering

Fig. 1. Location of the sampling sites within the Trans-Gangetic Plains in India.

284

A.K. Shukla et al. / Soil & Tillage Research 163 (2016) 282289

different categories of farm sizes, viz. large (>3 ha land holding),

medium (13 ha) and small (<1 ha) farmers. During soil sampling,
farm size was taken into consideration. The number of subsamples for making a composite sample was 810 for a large
holding, 56 for medium and 23 for a small holding. Depending
upon the size of the district, about 100600 soil samples were
collected from each one. The collected samples were air dried,
stone and debris were removed, and then they were ground to pass
through 2 mm sieve and stored in polyethylene bottles for analysis.
2.3. Soil analysis
Soil properties including soil pH, electrical conductivity (EC),
calcium carbonate (CaCO3) content and SOC content were
determined following Jackson (1973). Available Zn, Cu, Mn and
Fe in soils were extracted in triplicate by diethylene triamine penta
acetic acid (DTPA) (soil to solution ratio 1:2, shaking time 2 h)
(Lindsay and Norvell, 1978). Estimation of these four micronutrient
cations was done on the clear extract with an atomic absorption
spectrophotometer (AAS) (AA240FS model, Varian Inc., Palo Alto,
USA), with wavelength of measurement being 214, 325, 280 and
248 nm for Zn, Cu, Mn and Fe, respectively.
2.4. Statistical and geostatistical analysis
The minimum, maximum, mean, standard deviation (SD),
coefcient of variation (CV), skewness and kurtosis values for each
analyzed soil property were computed. To nd out the relationship
between soil properties and available micronutrients, Pearsons
correlation coefcients were computed. The normal frequency
distribution of data was veried by the KolmogorovSmirnov (KS)
test. The results indicated that the DTPA extractable Zn, Cu, Mn and
Fe data passed the KS normality test at a signicance level of 0.05
after logarithmic transformation.
ArcMap 10.1 was used to analyze the spatial structure of DTPA
extractable Zn, Cu, Mn and Fe data and to dene the semivariograms. The semivariogram analyses were carried out before
application of ordinary kriging interpolation as the semivariogram
model determines the interpolation function (Goovaerts, 1997) as
given below.

g h

1 X
2
zX i h
Z X i 
2mh i1
mh

Where, g (h) is the experimental semivariogram value at a distance

interval h; m(h) is the number of sample pair values within the
distance interval h; Z(Xi), Z(Xi + h) are sample values at two points
separated by the distance h. Different semivariogram functions
were evaluated to select the best t with the data. Exponential

model was tted to the empirical semivariograms. The exponential

model that tted to experimental semivariograms is dened below
(Burgess and Webster, 1980) as:
 

h
g h C o C 1 1
exp

2
a
Where, C0 is the nugget, C1 is the partial sill, and a is the range of
spatial dependence to reach the sill (C0 + C1). The nugget/sill ratio,
i.e. C0/(C0 + C1) and the range are the parameters which characterize the spatial structure of a soil property. The range denes the
distance over which the soil property values are correlated with
each other. A low valueofC0/(C0 + C1) and a high range generally
indicates that high precision of the property can be obtained by
kriging (Cambardella et al., 1994). The nugget/sill ratio was used as
the criterion to classify the spatial dependence of variables. Ratio
values lower than or equal to 0.25 were considered to have strong
spatial dependence, whereas values between 0.25 and 0.75
indicate moderate dependence and those greater than 0.75 show
weak spatial dependence (Cambardella et al., 1994).
The semivariogram models were chosen by using the cross
validation technique, i.e. by comparing the actual values with the
values estimated by kriging using the semivariogram model.
Prediction accuracy of semivariogram models was evaluated by
mean square error (MSE).
Pn
zxi ; yi
z  xi ; yi 2
MSE i1
3
n
Where, n is the number of observation for each case (DTPA
extractable Zn, Cu, Mn and Fe), z(xi, yi) is the observed soil
parameter, z*(xi, yi) is the estimated soil parameter, and (xi, yi) are
sampling coordinates. Using the geospatial parameters of the besttted exponential semivariogram model, interpolation was made
through ordinary kriging (Goovaerts, 1997).
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Soil properties and DTPA extractable Zn, Cu, Mn and Fe in soil
The data showed high variability for EC and CaCO3 content, in
contrast to low and medium variability for pH and SOC,
respectively (Table 1). The CV values of <10%, 10100% and
>100% indicate low, moderate and high variability, respectively
(Nielsen and Bouma, 1985). The present dataset involved samples
from four soil orders and different size of landholding units and
thus variability in soil properties was expected. The mean
concentration values followed the order: Fe > Mn > Zn > Cu. According to the classication adopted for India (Shukla et al., 2015),
about 15, 13, 14 and28% soil samples were decient (including
acute deciency) in Zn, Cu, Mn and Fe, respectively (Fig. 2).

Table 1
Statistical summary of selected soil properties and DTPA extractable Zn, Cu, Mn and Fe (n = 5638).
Variables
pH
EC (dSm
1)
SOC (g kg
1)
CaCO3 (g kg
1)
DTPA-Zn (mg kg
1)
DTPA-Cu (mg kg
1)
DTPA-Mn (mg kg
1)
DTPA-Fe (mg kg
1)

Minimum

Maximum

Mean

SD

CV (%)

Skewness

Kurtosis

4.50
0.04
0.20
0.10
0.10
0.10
0.53
0.12

10.80
8.50
17.10
68.00
8.00
7.97
26.60
48.80

8.03
0.49
4.40
7.90
1.66
1.37
10.30
12.20

0.50
0.64
1.70
1.27
1.21
1.29
5.62
9.08

6.26
127.00
38.40
161.00
72.70
93.90
54.50
74.10

0.83
4.81
1.88
1.93
1.58
2.07
0.33
1.12

3.16
10.50
6.65
3.69
2.92
5.19

0.76
0.98

Abbreviations: EC = electrical conductivity, SOC = soil organic carbon, CaCO3 = calcium carbonate, DTPA-Zn = diethylene triamine penta acetic acid extractable zinc, DTPACu = diethylene triamine penta acetic acid extractable copper, DTPA-Mn = diethylene triamine penta acetic acid extractable manganese, DTPA-Fe = diethylene triamine penta
acetic acid extractable iron, SD = standard deviation, CV = coefcient of variation.

A.K. Shukla et al. / Soil & Tillage Research 163 (2016) 282289

Soils samples
60
50

The variability observed in the available micronutrient concentrations was largely due to variation in soil parent material,
rainfall and soil management (Li et al., 2008). Although alluvial
plain constitutes the large part of the study region, diversity in the
physiography is observed with Shivalik Hills to the northeast,
Aravalli Range in the south and semi-desert sandy plain lying to the
southwest. Calcium concretions are a common feature in the
alluvial soils. Differences in soil managements also resulted from,
rainfall variability and cropping sequences. The deciencies in Zn
and Fe are possibly caused by higher CaCO3 concretions in the soil
prole. However, Zn deciency though was prevalent in the study
region has declined over time caused by regular use of zinc
sulphate fertilizer, particularly in rice based systems (Shukla et al.,
2015).

Area

(a)

40
30
20
10
0
<0.3

0.3 to <0.6

0.6 to <0.9

0.9 to <1.2

1.2 to <1.5

1.5

DTPA-Zn (mg kg-1)

60

(b)

50
40
30

3.2. Relationship of DTPA extractable Zn, Cu, Mn and Fe with soil

properties

20
10
0
<3.5

3.5 to <5.5

5.5 to <7.5

7.5 to <9.5 9.5 to <11.5

The DTPA extractable Zn, Cu, Mn and Fe concentrations were

signicantly and negatively correlated with soil pH (r =
0.222;
P < 0.01) whereas signicantly positive correlated with SOC
(r = 0.286; P < 0.01) (Table 2). Low correlation coefcient was
due to huge variability in dataset. The results are in agreement
with the observations of Katyal and Sharma (1991) that soil pH,
lime content, organic matter, clay content and water content of soil
had a strong inuence on the micronutrient distribution. In
another study, the total Cu content was positively and signicantly
correlated with soil organic matter and cation exchange capacity of
soil but was negatively and signicantly correlated with soil pH
(Wu et al., 2010). In our study, the concentrations of Zn, Cu, Mn and
Fe reduced with the increase in soil pH, which was in agreement
with the observations of Lindsay (1979) who reported that by each
unit increase of soil pH in the range from 4 to 9, the solubility of Fe
in soil decreases by 1000 fold compared with100-fold decrease for
Mn, Cu and Zn. The concentrations of Zn, Cu, Mn and Fe in soil
increased with SOC as revealed by the signicant and positive
correlation coefcient. The SOC, improve soil structure and supply
soluble chelating agents and reduces oxidation and precipitation of
cations, thus resulting in increased concentrations of Zn, Cu, Mn
and Fe (White and Zasoski, 1999).

11.5

DTPA-Fe (mg kg-1)

60
50

(c)

40
30
20
10
0
<2.0

2.0 to <4.0

4.0 to <6.0

6.0 to <8.0 8.0 to <10.0

10.0

DTPA-Mn (mg kg-1)

60
50

285

(d)

40
30
20
10
0
<0.2

0.2 to <0.4

0.4 to <0.6

0.6 to <0.8

0.8 to <1.0

1.0

DTPA-Cu (mg kg-1)

Fig. 2. Frequency distribution showing per cent soil samples and area in the
particular range of concentration for (a) DTPA-Zn (b) DTPA-Fe (c) DTPA-Mn (d)
DTPA-Cu.

3.3. Spatial structure and spatial distribution of DTPA extractable Zn,

Cu, Mn and Fe

Compared with other micronutrients, acute deciency of Fe was

observed in a higher number of samples (15%) spread throughout
the study area.

The best-tted model was exponential for all the four micronutrients (Fig. 3) with low MSE values (Table 3). The nugget (an
indication of micro-variability) was highest for Fe, which is
ascribed to the fact that the selected sampling distance could not

Table 2
Pearsons correlation coefcients for DTPA extractable Zn, Cu, Mn and Fe and selected soil properties.
Variables

pH

EC

SOC

CaCO3

DTPA-Zn

DTPA-Cu

DTPA-Mn

DTPA-Fe

pH
EC
SOC
CaCO3
DTPA-Zn
DTPA-Cu
DTPA-Mn
DTPA-Fe

1.000

0.254**

0.213**
0.050

0.222**

0.156**

0.349**

0.153**

1.000
0.060

0.051
0.075
0.088*
0.180**
0.125**

1.000

0.044
0.286**
0.300**
0.258**
0.332**

1.000

0.049

0.016

0.074

0.042

1.000
0.510**
0.351**
0.424**

1.000
0.341**
0.430**

1.000
0.449**

1.000

Abbreviations: EC = electrical conductivity, SOC = soil organic carbon, CaCO3 = calcium carbonate, DTPA-Zn = diethylene triamine penta acetic acid extractable zinc, DTPACu = diethylene triamine penta acetic acid extractable copper, DTPA-Mn = diethylene triamine penta acetic acid extractable manganese, DTPA-Fe = diethylene triamine penta
acetic acid extractable iron.
*and ** denote signicance at 5% and 1% level respectively.

286

A.K. Shukla et al. / Soil & Tillage Research 163 (2016) 282289

Fig. 3. Experimental semivariograms and their tted models for (a) Zn, (b) Cu, (c) Mn and (d) Fe.

Table 3
Theoretical model parameters tted to experimental semivariograms for the studied micronutrients.
Soil micronutrients

Model

DTPA-Zn
DTPA-Cu
DTPA-Mn
DTPA-Fe

Exponential
Exponential
Exponential
Exponential

Nugget (C0)

Partial Sill (C1)

Sill (C0 + C1)

Range (km)

Nugget/Sill

0.85
0.72
4.25
33.84

0.57
1.42
17.7
57.93

1.42
2.14
21.95
91.77

32.49
61.40
5.37
140.00

0.60
0.34
0.19
0.37

Spatial Dependence

MSE

Moderate
Moderate
Strong
Moderate

1.01
0.98
1.00
0.98

Abbreviations: DTPA-Zn = diethylene triamine penta acetic acid extractable zinc, DTPA-Cu = diethylene triamine penta acetic acid extractable copper, DTPA-Mn = diethylene
triamine penta acetic acid extractable manganese, DTPA-Fe = diethylene triamine penta acetic acid extractable iron, MSE = mean square error.

capture the spatial dependence well. The nugget/sill ratio values

were 0.60, 0.37, 0.34 and 0.19 for Zn, Fe, Cu, and Mn, respectively
indicating moderate spatial dependence for Zn, Cu, Fe and strong
spatial dependence for Mn. This is attributed to inherent soil
properties (such as soil pH, EC, SOC and soil mineralogy)as well as
management factors including fertilization and cropping sequences practiced.
The semivariogram range values of Fe, Cu, Zn and Mn were 140,
61, 32 and 5 km, respectively (Table 3). Samples separated by
distances lower than the range are spatially related, whereas those
separated by a distance greater than the range are considered not
to be spatially related. A large range indicates the value of
measured soil property to be inuenced by natural and anthropogenic factors over great distances than properties having smaller

ranges (Lopez-Granados et al., 2002). The different range values for

Zn, Cu, Mn and Fe in these soils might be due to combined effect of
parent material, climate and adoption of different land management. In agreement with the present study, several authors
reported range values of 2.59.1 km for Zn, 3.3028 km for Cu
(Behera et al., 2012), 0.766 km for Mn and 2.75.2 km for Fe
(Behera and Shukla, 2014) in some acid soils of India. Information
on the range in semivariogram of Zn, Cu, Mn and Fe acts as a guide
in future soil sampling designs in similar areas. The sampling
interval should be less than half the semivariogram range (Kerry
and Oliver, 2004). It is therefore recommended that for ensuing
studies aimed at characterizing spatial dependency of Zn, Cu, Mn
and Fe in similar areas, soil sampling should be done at distances
shorter than the range found in this study.

A.K. Shukla et al. / Soil & Tillage Research 163 (2016) 282289

287

Fig. 4. Distribution maps of DTPA extractable Zn, Cu, Mn and Fe concentrations in the soil generated by ordinary kriging.

The distribution pattern of the four micronutrients in soils of

the studied region was rather similar (Fig. 4), which corroborates
our nding of signicant and positive correlations among Zn, Cu,
Mn and Fe in these soils. Higher values of the micronutrients were
recorded in the northern part of the state, whereas lower values in
the southern, south-western and eastern parts of the state. Spatial
heterogeneity of micronutrients concentration was more in
southern and south-western parts of the state. The different
spatial distributions in micronutrient concentrations were
expected due to physiographic variation viz, northern part of the
state in the alluvial plain zone and hilly and desert sand features in
the south and south-western part of the study region. Furthermore, anthropogenic activities like cultivation of high yielding
varieties of different crops coupled with non-inclusion of micronutrients in fertiliser schedulings also contributed to spatial
variability of micronutrients (Shukla et al., 2015).

4. Conclusions
The current study showed high spatial variability with
moderate spatial dependence for DTPA extractable Zn, Cu, Fe
and strong spatial dependence for Mn in the intensively cultivated
region of the TGP region of India. Thus, the TGP region may be
grouped into different classes based on similar range of
micronutrient concentrations for precise and efcient micronutrient management. The concentration of micronutrients varied
widely and about 15, 13, 14 and 28% soil samples were decient
(including acute deciencies) in Zn, Cu, Mn and Fe, respectively.
The distribution maps developed for the four micronutrients could
be the primary guide for region specic micronutrient management and designing future soil sampling strategies in the
intensively cultivated TGP region of India.

288

A.K. Shukla et al. / Soil & Tillage Research 163 (2016) 282289

Fig. 4. (Continued)

Acknowledgements
This research was supported by the Indian Council of
Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi, India. The authors thank
the editor and anonymous reviewers for the useful comments and
suggestions for improving the quality of the manuscript.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data associated with this article can be found, in
the online version, at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.still.2016.07.004.
References
Behera, S.K., Shukla, A.K., 2014. Total and extractable manganese and iron in some
cultivated acid soils of India status, distribution and relationship with some
soil properties. Pedosphere 24, 196208.

Behera, S.K., Shukla, A.K., Singh, M.V., 2012. Distribution variability of total and
extractable copper in cultivated acid soils of India and their relationship with
some selected soil properties. Agrochimica LVI (1), 2841.
Bhattacharyya, T., Pal, D.K., Mandal, C., Chandran, P., Ray, S.K., Sarkar, D.,
Velmourougane, K., Srivastava, A., Sidhu, G.S., Singh, R.S., Sahoo, A.K., Dutta, D.,
Nair, K.M., Srivastava, R., Tiwary, P., Nagar, A.P., Nimkhedkar, S.S., 2013. Soils of
India: historical perspective, classication and recent advances. Curr. Sci. 104,
13081323.
Burgess, T.M., Webster, R.R., 1980. Optimal interpretation and isarithmic mapping of
soil properties: I. The variogram and punctual kriging. J. Soil Sci. 31, 315331.
Cambardella, C.A., Moorman, T.B., Novak, J.M., Parkin, T.B., Karlen, D.L., Turco, R.F.,
Konopka, A.E., 1994. Field scale variability of soil properties in central Iowa soils.
Soil Sci.Soc. Am. J. 58, 15011511.
Cochran, W.G., 1977. Sampling Techniques. Wiley, New York.
Gelfand, A.E., Schliep, E.M., 2016. Spatial statistics and Gaussian processes: a
beautiful marriage. Spatial Stat. (in press).
Goovaerts, P., 1997. Geostatistics for Natural Resources Evaluation. Oxford Univ.
Press, New York.
Jackson, M.L., 1973. Soil Chemical Analysis. Prentice Hall of India Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi.

A.K. Shukla et al. / Soil & Tillage Research 163 (2016) 282289
Katyal, J.C., Sharma, B.D., 1991. DTPA-extractable and total Zn, Cu, Mn and Fe in
Indian soils and their association with some soil properties. Geoderma 49, 165
179.
Kerry, R., Oliver, M.A., 2004. Average variograms to guide soil sampling for land
management. Int. J. Appl. Earth Obs. 5, 307325.
Kumar, P., Jha, D., Kumar, A., Chaudhary, M.K., Grover, R.K., Singh, R.K., Singh, R.K.P.,
Mitra, A., Joshi, P.K., Singh, A., Badal, P.S., Mittal, S., Ali, J., 2002. Economic
analysis of total factor productivity of crop sector in Indo-Gangetic Plain of India
by district and region. Agricultural Economics Research Report 2. IARI, New
Delhi, India.
Li, J., Richter, D.D., Mendoza, A., Heine, P., 2008. Four-decade responses of soil trace
elements to an aggrading old-eld forest: B, Mn, Zn, Cu, and Fe. Ecology 89 (10),
29112923.
Lindsay, W.L., Norvell, W.A., 1978. Development of a DTPA soil test for zinc, iron,
manganese and copper. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 42, 421448.
Lindsay, W.L., 1979. Chemical Equilibria in Soils. Wiley, New York.
Lopez-Granados, F., Jurado-Exposito, M., Atenciano, S., Garcia-Ferrer, A., De la Orden,
M.S., Garcia-Torres, L., 2002. Spatial variability of agricultural soil parameters in
southern Spain. Plant Soil 246, 97105.
Nielsen, D.R., Bouma, J., 1985. Soil spatial variability. Proceedings of a Workshop of
the ISSS and the SSSA. Las Vegas, USA. 30th November to 1st December,
1984Pudoc, Wageningen, The Netherlands, pp. 243.
Shukla, A.K., Tiwari, P.K., Prakash, C., 2014. Micronutrients deciencies vis-a-vis food
and nutritional security of India. Ind. J. Fert. 10, 94112.
Shukla, A.K., Malik, R.S., Tiwari, P.K., Prakash, C., Behera, S.K., Yadav, H., Narwal, R.P.,
2015. Status of micronutrient deciencies in soils of Haryana: impact on crop
productivity and human health. Ind. J. Fert. 11, 1627.

289

Sillanpaa, M., 1990. Micronutrient assessment at the country level: an international

study. FAO Soils Bulletin 63. FAO/Finnish International Development Agency,
Rome, Italy.
Singh, J., Erenstein, O., Thorpe, W., Verma, A., 2007. Crop-livestock interactions and
livelihoods in the Gangetic Plains of Uttar Pradesh, India. Research Report 11.
International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Nairobi Kenya, pp. 88.
Singh, V.K., Rani, M., Dwivedi, B.S., Singh, S.K., Gupta, V.K., Majumdar, K., Mishra, R.P.,
2015. Soil organic carbon stock variability in the Northern Gangetic Plains of
India: interaction between agro-ecological characteristics and cropping
systems. Soil Use Manage. 31 (4), 461473.
Tesfahunegn, G.B., Tamene, L., Vlek, P.L.G., 2011. Catchment-scale spatial variability
of soil properties and implications on site-specic soil management in northern
Ethiopia. Soil Till. Res. 117, 124139.
Tripathi, R., Nayak, A.K., Shahid, M., Raja, R., Panda, B.B., Mohanty, S., Kumar, A., Lal,
B., Gutam, P., Sahoo, R.N., 2015. Characterizing spatial variability of soil
properties in salt affected coastal India using geostatistics and kriging. Arab. J.
Geosci. 8 (12), 1069310703.
Webster, R., Oliver, M.A., 1990. Statistical Methods in Soil and Land Resource Survey.
Oxford University Press, London.
White, J.G., Zasoski, R.J., 1999. Mapping soil micronutrients. Field Crops Res. 60, 11
26.
Wu, C., Luo, Y., Zhang, L., 2010. Variability of copper availability in paddy elds in
relation to selected soil properties in southeast China. Geoderma 156, 200206.
Yadav, R.L., 1998. Factor productivity trends in a rice-wheat cropping system under
long-term use of chemical fertilizers. Exp. Agric. 34, 118.