Comparison of spatial prediction methods for Zn and Fe

Zn and Fe are the most important and essential micronutrients for maintaining soil, plant and human health. Chances of deficiency of these micronutrients have been found more in future in the soil of Araziline Block of Varanasi district of Uttar Pradesh (India). Keeping this in the mind spatial predictions have been done for Zn and Fe content. For spatial prediction of these micronutrients content in the soil two spatial prediction (interpolation) methods viz. Kriging and IDW methods were used in the present study. Spatial distribution maps were generated to recognize the complex spatial variability of the Zn and Fe contents with different colors and patterns. Each color in these maps corresponds to a particular amount of Zn and Fe content. It has been found that maps and results obtained by spatial prediction methods which are the combination of the geostatistics and GIS provides a powerful tool to describe the spatial distribution of Zn and Fe content in the soil. This results obtained by the present study will be helpful in fertilizer application management to maintain desired level of Zn and Fe in the soil. A proper attention is also required to maintain the level of Zn and Fe in future prospects.