Soil fertility and salinity status of Attock district

A total of 20711 soil samples collected from all tehsils of Attock district (6696 samples from tehsil Attock, 2917 from Fateh Jang, 2582 from Pindi Gheb, 5552 from Jand and 2964 samples from Hassan Abdal) were tested in Soil and Water Testing Laboratory, Attock, Pakistan during 2004-05 to 2007-08. Samples were analysed for different parameters like soil reaction (pH1:10), electrical conductivity (EC1:10), soil texture, soil organic matter (SOM) and plant available phosphorus (Olsen-P). The results revealed that pH, ranged between 7.5-8.5 in 94.62 percent samples while 99.60 percent samples were normal with respect to salinity/sodicity (EC < 4 dS/m and SAR < 15). Similarly 21.15 percent samples were light (sandy loam) and 78.70 percent were medium (loam) in texture. Soils were poor in organic matter (91.32% samples had less than 0.86% OM) and available phosphorus (99.49% samples had less than 7 mg P/kg soil). Depending upon the soil analyses, farmers were guided and fertilizer recommendations were served according to crop, soil and water/rainfall conditions for harvesting higher yield of different crops.