Soil Health Card Kaise Padhe: The 12 Parameters, What Low, Medium and High Mean, and How to Use the Advice

To read a Soil Health Card, check your name and plot details first, then the test results for the 12 parameters (N, P, K, S, zinc, iron, copper, manganese, boron, pH, EC and organic carbon), then the fertiliser advice. Trust the low, medium or high rating printed on your own card, because rating scales differ between labs and regions. Nutrients rated low are where extra input is most likely to pay; high means you can usually apply less. Ask your district agriculture officer or KVK if anything is unclear.

A Soil Health Card is a printed report given to a farmer for each land holding. It states the status of the soil for 12 parameters and, based on that, indicates fertiliser recommendations and the soil amendments the field needs. The scheme was launched on 19 February 2015 at Suratgarh, Rajasthan, and works through State Governments.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, the card gives each farmer the nutrient status of the holding and advises the dose of fertilisers and the soil amendments needed to maintain soil health in the long run (portal FAQ, PIB, Feb 2025). The card is therefore a test report plus advice, and both parts matter.

Since the 2022-23 season the scheme has been a component of Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana under the name Soil Health and Fertility (PIB). The official portal is built and run by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) and is meant to give cards in one standard format across the country (Soil Health Card portal).

The 12 parameters are nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K); sulphur (S); zinc (Zn), iron (Fe), copper (Cu), manganese (Mn) and boron (B); and pH, electrical conductivity (EC) and organic carbon (OC). The portal FAQ groups them as macro-nutrients, secondary nutrient, micro-nutrients and physical parameters.

Source: Soil Health Card portal FAQ. The newer PIB factsheets describe N, P, K and S together as macro-nutrients; the grouping changes between documents but the 12 parameters stay the same. For what pH means for nutrient availability, see our guide on soil pH and nutrient lock.

Read the card in three parts. First, check the farmer, plot and sample details. Second, read the test results and the rating for each parameter. Third, read the fertiliser and soil-amendment advice. If the plot details are wrong, the advice may belong to another field, so settle that before anything else.

• Details: your name, village, survey or plot number and the sampling date. The official sampling method uses GPS tools and revenue maps, so the card should match your plot (portal FAQ).
• Results: each of the 12 parameters with its value and rating. Note every parameter rated low or deficient, and every one rated high.
• Advice: fertiliser quantities and any soil amendment. The NITI Aayog district manual says labs recommend appropriate use of FYM, urea, DAP, MOP and similar inputs based on the season and crop (NITI Aayog manual); the August 2025 PIB factsheet adds bio-fertilisers, organic inputs and soil treatments.

The portal FAQ says the fertiliser recommendation is generated from Soil Test Crop Response (STCR) equations. In plain words, that means the advice is calculated from test values and crop response trials, not guessed. Take the advice for your own crop and season, and ask the lab or officer if the card lists only a general dose.

Low means the soil is likely to supply less of that nutrient than the crop needs, so extra input is most likely to pay. Medium means supply is moderate and the dose should be balanced. High means the soil already supplies plenty, so the dose can usually be reduced. The exact limits depend on the rating scale your lab uses.

ICAR scientists writing in Indian Farming (March 2020) state that all soil testing laboratories across India follow a three-level rating of low, medium and high. They list the scale below, adopted from Dhyan Singh and others (2005). Use it only as a guide: your lab may print a different one.

Source: ICAR, Indian Farming, March 2020. The same paper says the three-level scale is vague, because one category covers a wide range of values, and proposes a nine-level scale. That is a research suggestion, not what your card uses today.

Because different labs and regions use different rating scales. A national three-level scale and a regional six-level scale can put the same number in different classes. Do not compare your value with a table from the internet or with a neighbour in another district. Use the rating printed on your own card.

A second ICAR paper, from the ICAR-National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning (ICAR-NBSS&LUP), built Soil Health Cards for Kelapur block in Yavatmal district, Maharashtra. It used ratings suggested by PDKV, Akola, with six classes. Compare it with the national scale above for the same value:

The comparison is a reading of the two published tables (national scale, PDKV Akola scale). It shows why two honest labs can describe the same soil differently. If a rating on your card surprises you, ask the lab or the district agriculture officer which scale it follows.

pH tells you whether the soil is acidic or alkaline, and EC (electrical conductivity) tells you how much soluble salt it holds. Read the rating on your card first. Very high pH or EC can limit crops and may call for a different fix, such as drainage or gypsum, so do not just add more fertiliser.

No official page was found that prints the pH and EC bands used on the card, so no single set of bands is given here. What an official university page does state: TNAU describes acid soils as characteristically low in pH, below 6.0, and gives these limits for salt-affected soils (TNAU Agritech Portal).

ESP (exchangeable sodium percentage) is not one of the 12 parameters on the card, so a high pH on your card does not by itself tell you the soil is sodic. If pH and EC look high, read our guides on soil salinity and gypsum for sodic soil, and get a lab test that includes ESP.

Organic carbon (OC) shows the organic matter in the soil, which supports soil structure, water holding and soil life. On the ICAR national scale above, below 0.50 percent is low and above 0.75 percent is high. If your card shows low OC, the advice is usually to add organic manure and keep crop residues in the field.

Your card may list FYM or another organic input in its advice, because the NITI Aayog manual says labs recommend FYM along with fertilisers based on season and crop (NITI Aayog manual). One option is vermicompost; the enriched vermicompost fertiliser page lists organic matter of 30 to 40 percent. Browse other options in the manures and soil fertiliser collection. Follow the quantity on your card or the product label.

Organic matter builds slowly, so one season will not move the rating much. Keep your old cards and compare them with the next one. For a wider view of crop sequences that protect soil, see our guide to crop rotation.

These show the available nutrients in the soil. On the ICAR national scale, nitrogen below 280 kg/ha, phosphorus below 10 kg/ha and potassium below 120 kg/ha are low. Check the unit and the form printed on your card: some reports give phosphorus as P and others as P2O5, and potassium as K or K2O.

For sulphur, the PDKV Akola ratings used in the ICAR-NBSS&LUP Yavatmal study give below 6 ppm as low, 6 to 12 ppm as medium and above 12 ppm as high. This is a regional scale, not a national one, so use it only if your card gives no rating (ICAR-NBSS&LUP, Indian Farming). Sulphur in ppm is the same as mg/kg.

Arithmetic note: P2O5 contains about 2.29 times its phosphorus weight (P × 2.29 = P2O5) and K2O about 1.2 times its potassium weight (K × 1.2 = K2O). These come from atomic weights, not from a scheme document, so use them only to compare numbers and ask your lab which form it reports. If the card shows a high phosphorus rating, ask the officer whether the phosphorus part of the dose can be cut; our post on DAP alternatives explains other phosphorus sources.

Micronutrients are needed in tiny amounts. Zinc, iron, copper and manganese are usually rated deficient, marginal or sufficient against a limit. A deficient rating means the crop is likely to respond to that nutrient. Boron ratings were not found on any official page opened here, so follow the rating printed on your card.

The PDKV Akola ratings used in the ICAR-NBSS&LUP Yavatmal study give these limits. Labs may use slightly different limits, so treat them as an example and trust the rating on your card.

Source: ICAR-NBSS&LUP, Indian Farming, March 2020. If your card shows zinc deficient, follow the dose it gives. A zinc fertiliser such as zinc sulphate is used to correct zinc deficiency, according to its product page. For wheat specifically, see our posts on zinc deficiency in wheat and wheat yellowing after first irrigation. For onion, see micronutrient management in onion.

The card gives nutrient quantities or fertiliser quantities. If it gives nutrients, use this formula: product needed = nutrient needed ÷ nutrient percent in the product × 100. Read the grade on the bag, because each product holds a different share of nutrient. If the card is per hectare, divide by 2.47 for an acre.

Choose the fertiliser combination on the card that you can buy locally, and ask the officer if you want to swap a product. Wheat and mustard growers can compare the card with our crop posts on wheat sowing time and basal dose and mustard fertiliser schedule; where the two differ, follow your card and ask your agriculture officer.

A trained person collects samples from your field, an approved soil testing laboratory tests them, and the results go to the national Soil Health Card portal, which generates the card. Farmers get a unique ID to access the portal and print the card (NITI Aayog manual). Ask your district agriculture office or KVK how it works locally.

• Sample collection: done by State Government staff, an outsourced agency or students of local agriculture colleges, as the portal FAQ describes.
• Testing: at state soil testing labs, ICAR institutions including KVKs and state agricultural universities, and other approved labs (portal FAQ).
• Card generation: the portal registers samples, stores test reports and creates the card with the fertiliser recommendation (PIB, Aug 2025).
• Access: the NITI Aayog manual says farmers get a unique ID to access the portal and print the card. The PIB factsheets add that cards are available in 22 languages and 5 dialects and that a Soil Health Card mobile app has been in use since April 2023.
• Who to ask: the FAQ names the State Director of Agriculture and the District Agriculture Officer as the state contacts.

The NITI Aayog manual gives a tentative timeline of 30 days from sample collection to printed card: 1 to 10 days for collection and registration, 11 to 20 days for analysis, 21 to 25 days for recommendations and 26 to 30 days for printing and distribution. Actual time in your district may differ. The portal download menus could not be read (the page is script-driven), so exact click steps are not given; ask your officer rather than a third-party site. If you also need a Farmer ID for other schemes, see our guide to AgriStack and Farmer ID.

Per the portal FAQ, a trained person takes soil from 15 to 20 cm depth by cutting it in a V shape, from the four corners and the centre of the field. It is mixed thoroughly, a part is taken as the sample, and shaded areas are avoided. The sample is then bagged and coded for the lab.

• Grid: one sample per 2.5 hectares in irrigated areas and per 10 hectares in rain-fed areas, using GPS tools and revenue maps.
• When: generally twice a year, after the rabi and kharif harvest, or when there is no standing crop in the field.
• Why timing matters: a sample taken right after manure or fertiliser can give a misleading result, so do not sample straight after applying either.

Source for the first two points: portal FAQ and PIB, Aug 2025. The last point is advice here, not a stated rule.

The portal FAQ says a card is made available once in a cycle of 3 years, and the August 2025 PIB factsheet repeats this under card validity. However, the same factsheet and the NITI Aayog manual also speak of a card every 2 years. Because the official pages differ, ask your district agriculture office which cycle applies.

In practice, if your card is old, or if you have changed the crop, the field or the fertiliser pattern, ask for a fresh sample. Sampling itself happens generally twice a year, after rabi and kharif harvest, per the FAQ.

As of July 2025, over 25 crore Soil Health Cards had been distributed. As of February 2025, India had 8,272 soil testing labs: 1,068 static, 163 mobile, 6,376 mini and 665 village-level labs. The States refer 1 percent of samples to a referral laboratory to check the results of the primary lab.

Rs 190 is a payment from the Government of India to State Governments per sample, not a price charged to a farmer; the pages opened do not state what farmers pay, so ask your state office. Sources: PIB, Aug 2025, portal FAQ.

The common mistakes are comparing your numbers with a table from another lab, mixing up kg of nutrient and kg of product, using a very old card for a changed field, and treating a high pH or EC as a fertiliser problem. Ask your district agriculture officer or KVK when the rating or advice looks odd.

Also read our guide to types of soil in India to understand why soils in different states test differently. For advice specific to your field, call the District Agriculture Officer or your nearest Krishi Vigyan Kendra.

Conclusion

A Soil Health Card is only useful if you read it for your own field: check the details, note every parameter rated low or deficient and every one rated high, and carry the fertiliser advice to the dealer in kg of product, not kg of nutrient. Rely on the rating printed on your card, because lab scales differ. If anything looks odd, ask your district agriculture officer or KVK before you buy.