ASSESSMENT OF FARMERS’ FERTILIZER MANAGEMENT PRACTICES AND CROPPING PATTERNS IN TATKON TOWNSHIP, NAY PYI TAW UNION TERRITORY, MYANMAR

Face-to-face interviews (n = 48) were conducted at Kin Mun Tan village tract in Tatkon Township, Nay Pyi Taw Union territory, Myanmar to identify current status of cropping patterns in their farmland and to assess the currently used fertilizer management practices in the study area. Survey data indicated that there were twenty-four cropping practices and it could be categorized as three cropping patterns; double rice (38%), maize based (28%) and sunflower based (34%). In maize and sunflower based cropping patterns, farmers used to grow rotating with other crops such as chickpea, chili, cabbage, onion, parsley, spinach, tomato, watermelon, cotton and banana depending on the market demand. In the fertilizer management practices, they used to apply organic manure, compound, urea, T-super (Triple super phosphorus) and foliar fertilizers. The greater portion of respondents (81%) used organic manure with the average application rate of 4.82 cart per hector (2.42ton ha−1) per year.  The highest number of respondent (79%) used compound fertilizers, 85% used urea fertilizer, 2% used T-super and 69% used foliar fertilizers depending on cropping patterns. Concerned with soil fertility status, half of respondents answered that their farm had good fertility status without testing their soils. There were 94% of study area without soil test. It indicated that the study area was necessary to conduct soil analyses to improve soil fertility status. In summary, farm size, compound fertilizer usage, foliar application and year of fertilizer application were depending on diversified cropping patterns. Especially, a cropping pattern including pulses would be assessed with much application of foliar fertilizers

ASSESSMENT OF SOIL CHEMICAL PROPERTIES UNDER CULTIVATED SOILS IN SELECTED AREA OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH

Spatial variability of soil chemical properties is critical for improving crops productivity and sustainable farming techniques. This study was conducted to determine chemical properties of soils in selected area of Department of Agricultural Research (DAR). The study area was located at the field of Department of Agricultural Research, which is located at Zayar Thiri Township, Nay Pyi Taw in Myanmar. A total of 235 soil samples were collected in a systematic grid design using geographical positioning system (GPS). Each grid was specified with the distance of 50 m × 50 m. Variables measured were soil pH, Electrical conductivity (EC), organic matter, total nitrogen, available phosphorus, available potassium, exchangeable calcium, exchangeable magnesium, exchangeable sodium and cation exchange capacity (CEC). Among the statistical results, exchangeable Mg showed the highest variability and soil pH showed the least variability with a coefficient of variation (CV) 69.37% and 8.40% and the values ranged from 0.24 cmolc kg-1 to 6.83 cmolc kg-1 and 4.82 to 7.53, respectively. The electrical conductivity with an average of 0.059 dS m-1 was obtained. The spatial distribution of cation exchange capacity ranged from 1.86 cmolc kg-1 to 12.82 cmolc kg-1. Low to high range of available phosphorus was observed between 1.95 mg kg-1 and 27.91 mg kg-1. The available potassium content in the selected area of DAR soils ranged between 10 mg kg-1 to 317 mg kg-1. Exchangeable calcium varied from 1.13 to 8.35 cmolc kg-1. The soil exchangeable sodium values of the selected area of DAR soil samples varied from 0.05 cmolc kg-1 to 0.69 cmolc kg-1. The pH of the soils was strongly acid to moderately alkaline and EC was non saline condition. The organic matter content found in the selected area varied from 0.33% to 20.85% and the variability of soil chemical properties existed largely due to the differences in management practices by the researchers, and therefore, the researchers should be encouraged to adopt organic matter improvement practices for improving the long-term storage of soil fertility level in crop production. The observed various spatial variability of soil properties that affected soil fertility would provide the information of effective management and decisions making for crop cultivation in Department of Agricultural Research