Soil fertility assessment in the North of Nasiriyah City (Iraq) using geographic information system technology

Evaluating agricultural land for its suitability for cultivation is essential to achieve optimal benefit. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is one of the most important technologies used in evaluating agricultural lands by collecting and analyzing spatial data, which allows for sustainable soil management. The results showed that the application of spatial analysis tools of the GIS and the distribution of soil fertility in the study area had a low soil organic matter content and moderate levels of available nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, but they were not evenly distributed in the study area, in addition to a high soil pH value. The results showed that the soil fertility assessment classifications was only two categories in the study area. The non-fertile soil category constituted over 86% of the total area. In contrast, the low fertility soil category accounted for 14% of the total area. The other fertility categories- very fertile, fertile, and moderately fertile- were not presented in the study area as they did not exhibit the ideal condition for certain properties used in soil fertility evaluation, due to high salinity and calcium carbonate minerals, as well as low organic matter content.