First lab managers’ meeting of the South-East Asia Laboratory NETwork (SEALNET 2.0) - Quality improvement in Asian soil laboratories: towards standardization and harmonization of soil analyses and their interpretation, Bogor, Indonesia, 20 - 24 November 2017.

1. Soil Management Directorate
NEPAL
Kathmandu
Ministry of Agricultural Development
Presented by Dr. Janardan Khadka

2. 1. Laboratory staff
Number of staff: 23 persons
(5 women, 18 men)
Experience in lab testing:
> 5 years
< 5 years
10 persons
3 persons
Experience in lab management:
> 5 years
< 5 years
2 persons
0 persons

3. 2. Group photo

4. 3. Laboratories
How many different rooms? 8 rooms
How many m2
of laboratory space?
(approximately)
100 m2
S. NO. Room No.
1 Sample preparation room 1
2 Analysis hall 1
3 Digestion and distillation 1
4 Micronutrient analysis 2
5 Physical analysis (texture) 1
6 Drying room (oven and Muffle furnace) 1
7 Chemical storage 1

5. 4. Photos of our laboratories
Analysis hall
Digestion and distillation Chemical storage
Soil Management Directorate
Distilled water plant

6. 5. Photos of our equipment
AAS ( SHIMADZU) AAS (Thermo Scientific)
UV-Visible spectrophotometer Flame photometer

7. Oven Distilled water plant
Magnetic stirrer with hot
plate
pH meterMechanical stirrerBlock digestion system

8. 6. Proficiency testing
• Although we do not have planned proficiency testing program,
SMD Conducts cross check program annually
• SMD creates homogenous soil samples and distributes to regional
laboratories
• Each laboratory prepares a report on the basis of their testing and
shares the report with SMD
• SMD compares all the reports and suggests if improvement is
required
• Cross lab checking between SMD and NARC conduct to solve
issues in relation to national fertilizer bidding/testing

9. 7. Accreditation
Does your lab have any accreditation or certification?
No

10. 8. Data interpretation
Do you provide interpretation of soil results to your clients?
Method Units Rating
Low Moderate High
Carbon Walkley Black Organic matter % <2.5 2.5 – 5.0 >5.0
Nitrogen Kjeldahl % N <0.1 0.1 – 0.2 >0.2
Nitrate-N
Phosphorus
Modified Olsen’s
Bicarbonate ppm P (kg/ha) <31 31 - 55 >55
Potassium Flame Photometer ppm K (kg/ha) <110 110 - 280 >280
Yes

11. 9. Interpretation report for our clients
Recommendation
Rating RDF
Low Full dose
Medium ½ dose
High ¼ dose
RDF = Recommended dose of fertilizer

12. 10. Soil analysis in our country
How many routine laboratories exist in your country?
7 (DOA)+ 8(NARC) = 15
5 (private)
45 mini lab ( only qualitative analysis pH, N, P, K)
Is there any ‘mobile’ laboratories?
Yes (3)
Are the soil test kits commonly used?
Yes

13. Soil laboratories under DOA
Soil Management Directorate
Regional Soil Testing Laboratories
Soil Testing Laboratory

14. Mobile laboratories

15. Soil testing kit

16. Soil testing mini lab Sindhuli

17. Laboratory operation training

18. Celebrating world soil day

19. 52 Districts
Soil fertility mapped districts by SMD

20. 11. Strength/weakness
What do you think your lab is strong at?
What do you think that could be improved?
• Routine Test/Analysis
• Zn, Cu, Mn, Fe test by AAS and
• B by hot water extraction method
• Heavy metal analysis
• Proficiency testing and accreditation
• Testing of all essential micronutrients
• Completely lacks microbiology test and soil physics analysis
(except texture) – but microbiological test carried out at NARC
only for research purpose.
• Source tracing system of organic fertilizers.

21. • Establishment of accredited soil lab (primary, secondary and few
micronutrients with few heavy metals) in Nepal.
• Capacity development
• Establishment of international inter lab linkage/sharing

22. Thank you for your attention…