MOET
The most common method is to take an air-dried sample of your paddy soil. This test, however, may not be very reliable for paddy soils because the analysis is based on a dried soil sample. Deficiency of some nutrients may not be diagnosed by chemical analysis, especially those which are highly sensitive to flooding or submergence such as P, Zn, and S. For example, Zn levels in the dry soil that is subjected to soil chemical analysis may be high but when the soil is flooded, as in the field, Zn may have been transformed into unavailable forms and therefore it becomes limiting.
The minus-one test is a reliable technique that determines nutrient deficiency in actual field conditions. You don’t need a highly-equipped laboratory to do this simple experiment and you can conduct this near the field, or in your own backyard to closely monitor it for desired results |