Geostatistical Tools to Interpolate the Textural Variation Influences the Yield of Tapioca (Manihot esculenta)

Soil texture is a vital variable that reflects a number of soil properties such as Bulk Density, Particle Density, Infiltration Rate, Hydraulic conductivity, Water holding capacity, nutrient storage and availability as well as transport and binding and stability of soil aggregates. Soil texture plays major role in tuber development. The main objective of this study was to produce kriged maps (Ordinary kriging map and semivariogram) to interpolate the soil texture for Tapioca growing soils of Paramthy block, Namakkal District at unsampled locations. In this study, nearly 254 surface samples were collected covering 19,149 ha of agriculture land with dominant cultivation of Tapioca. Our study supports the usefulness of geostatistical technique to analyse the spatial distribution of soil texture i.e. sand, silt and clay content which rules the soil physical, chemical and hydrological properties. Every crop has its own economic part which may be below ground part or above ground part, both needs better soil for good yield, specifically the crop had their economic part below the ground majorly depends soil texture. The results such as provided maps and their associated variance can be used as data source for the development and implementation of further land management and soil water conservation plans in the study area.