DRS model is effective in rapid soil assessment IIT Kharagpur study

Kolkata, Sep 13 (PTI) A study by IIT Kharagpur in collaboration with the International Crops Research Institute of Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Hyderabad, has validated the efficiency of Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy (DRS) model for rapid soil assessment.
    The DRS approach was shown to be effective for estimating 8 out of 17 soil parameters with as high as 80 per cent accuracy, IIT Kharagpur said in a statement on Thursday.
    "Years of research at the Agricultural and Food Engineering (AgFE) department of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur shows that the Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy (DRS) model may be used safely for rapid soil assessment. Conventional soil testing laboratories use wet chemistry-based soil testing methods that are time consuming and can become expensive when a large number of samples are to be analysed.
    "On the other hand, using DRS a soil sample can be rapidly measured in a non-contact mode and the results can be transformed to multiple soil parameters using calibrated spectral algorithms," the statement said.
    Once the DRS algorithms are developed for a region, they may be used for analysing soil samples collected from different fields and at different times of sampling. The technology is rapid, non-invasive and involves no chemical use, for estimating multiple soil parameters, it said.
    Usually, soil testing laboratories use wet chemistry-based soil testing methods which are time-consuming and turn expensive when a large number of samples need to be analyzed.
    Once the DRS model based on algorithms are developed for a region, they may be used to analyze soil samples collected from different fields and at different sampling times.
    "This is a great opportunity... More than 60 per cent of the new samples estimated with more than 70 per cent accuracy indicates a huge opportunity to apply the DRS technique at different spatial and temporal scales. The partnership with ICRISAT has been very productive in developing these innovative methods for rapid soil health assessment," Professor B S Das from IIT Kharagpur said.
    ICRISAT has been at the forefront of global efforts to advance sensor-based technologies........Our recent work with NIRS-based spectroscopy for soil nutrient analysis, along with this pioneering research towards DRS models for soil analysis, ensures our commitment to deliver rapid and cost-effective alternatives to resource-poor agriculture systems," Director General of ICRISAT, Dr Jacqueline Hughes was quoted as saying in the IIT Kharagpur statement.
    "This is a step forward in making soil testing a feasibility through remote sensing. As the IEEE Standards Association embarks on standardizing soil spectroscopy as a standard method of soil testing," the statement said.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)