IIT-K develops first-of-its-kind soil testing device

What is the news?

IIT Kanpur has developed a Portable Soil Testing Device named ‘Bhu Parikshak’.

What is Bhu Parikshak?

Bhu Parikshak is a portable soil testing device that can detect soil health in just 90 seconds through an embedded mobile application. 

The device is based on Near Infrared Spectroscopy technology that can provide real time soil analysis reports on smartphones.

The device can detect six important soil parameters namely -Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium, Organic Carbon, Clay contents and Cation Exchange Capacity. It also recommends the required dose of fertilizers for the field and crops. 

How it works?

The portable and wireless soil testing device requires a mere 5 grams of dry soil sample for detecting macronutrients present in the soil.

After the analysis, the results appear on the screen in the form of a soil health report, which is accessible on BhuParikshak cloud service with unique ID. The report also comes with a recommended dose of fertilizers.

Source: This post is based on the article “IIT-K develops first-of-its-kind soil testing device” published in TOI on 15^th Dec, 2021.