Clustering Of Villages Based On Soil Parameters

Abstract

An empirical investigation was carried out to study the variation in five soil data, including potential of Hydrogen, Electrical Conductivity, Organic Carbon, available Phosphorus, and Potassium. The data on these five soil parameters pertaining to 47 villages of Palayamkottai taluka in the district of Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu State, INDIA were obtained from the Soil Health Card scheme. These soil parameters were subjected to various statistical analyses. An analysis of variance showed that variations in different soil parameters among the villages were highly significant; that is, these individual parameters were significantly different across the villages. A multivariate analysis of variance test revealed a significant variation between the villages when all the five soil parameters were considered simultaneously. Through all the soil parameters were found to be significant both individually and together, the clustered variation was largely due to variations in Organic Carbon, Electrical Conductivity, and Phosphorus as confirmed by Ward's method. Three clusters were identified such that there was homogeneity within the clusters and heterogeneity between the clusters.