IIT-K launches portable soil-testing device
LUCKNOW: The Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT-K) has claimed that it has developed a portable soil testing device that can detect soil health in just 90 seconds through an embedded mobile application.
“I am delighted to share that Prof Jayant Kumar Singh, department of chemical engineering, and his team have developed an embedded mobile application, Bhu Parikshak, that detects soil health in only 90 seconds,” tweeted IIT-K director, Prof Abhay Karandikar.
The invention is developed by a team of inventors at IIT Kanpur, consisting of Prof Jayant Kumar Singh from the department of chemical engineering, Pallav Prince, Ashar Ahmad, Yashasvi Khemani and Mohd Aamir Khan. The idea for the invention arose from the general observation of the common problem faced by farmers, wherein a farmer has to wait up to a fortnight for getting the soil health cards from distant district soil testing laboratories, which takes a considerable workforce and time.
The portable and wireless soil testing device requires mere 5 grams of dry soil sample for detecting macronutrients present in the soil. Once the soil is poured into the 5 cm long cylindrical device, it connects itself with the mobile through Bluetooth and analyses the soil.
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.
“The rapid soil testing device will assist farmers in obtaining soil health parameters of agricultural fields with a recommended dose of fertilizers. The mobile application is made available in local languages, and the device is designed keeping in mind the ease of use for farmers,” said Prof Karandikar.
The device can test up to 1 lakh soil samples, the highest testing capability among its predecessors. For mass production and wider reach, we have transferred this technology to our incubated agritech company AgroNxt Services Pvt Ltd, he tweeted.
An MoU was signed in the presence of Rajat Vardhan, director, AgroNxt Services and Prof Amitabha Bandyopadhyay, Prof AR Harish and Prof Jayant Kumar Singh from IIT Kanpur. The technology is transferred to Agronxt to manufacture the device through bulk production, eventually benefiting farmers.