Saeed Mohamed Eltaib, Mohd Soom Mohd Amin, Mohd Musa Hanafi, Abdul Rashid Mohd Shariff, and Aimrun Wayayok

pp. 321 - 328

Abstract

The variability of soil chemical properties such as total N, available P, and exchangeable K were examined on a 1.2 ha rice (Oryza sativa) field. The soil (n = 72) samples were systematically taken from individual
fields in Sawah Sempadan in thirty-six locations at two depths (0-20 and 20-30 cm). The Differential Global
Positioning System (DGPS) was used for locating the sample position. Geostatistical techniques were used to
analyze the soil chemical properties variability of the samples that assist in site-specific management of the
field. Results showed that areas of similarity were much greater for the soil chemical properties measured at
the depth of (0-20 cm) than that of the second lower (20- 30 cm). The ranges of the semivariogram for total N,
available P, and exchangeable K were 12, and 13 m (0-20 cm), 12 and 38 m (20-30 cm), respectively. Point
kriging calculated from the semivariogram was employed for spatial distribution map. The results suggested
that soil chemical properties measured may be spatially dependent even within the small.