scholarly journals Customized Fertilizers- An Artefact in Indian Agriculture: A Review

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
B.S. Vidyashree ◽  
P. Murali Arthanari
Keyword(s):  
Soil Fertility ◽  
Crop Yields ◽  
Holistic Approach ◽  
Crop Productivity ◽  
Fertilizer Response ◽  
Granulation Process ◽  
Indian Agriculture ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Use Efficiency ◽  
Soil Climate

Indian agriculture is suffering from low crop productivity and poor sustainability as its land suffers from varying degrees of soil fertility depletion. There exists a wide gap between amount of nutrients removed by crops and added through fertilizers resulting in reduced yields is due to mineral deficiency. Besides, there are issues of poor fertilizer response and reduced fertilizer use efficiency. Therefore, the holistic approach should be soil-climate-crop specific. It is essential to supply both macro and micronutrients to cater the needs of the crop. As Indian soils are deficit in supplying nutrients especially nitrogen and zinc, customized fertilizer is one option, being a multi-nutrient carrier of both macro and micro nutrients, is tailored to meet the region, soil, crop specific needs designed through specialised smart fertilizer technology, manufactured through systematic granulation process. These, customized fertilizer boost crop yields and arrest soil fertility deterioration over long run in a sustainable manner.

scholarly journals Customized Fertilizers- All in One a Review

2020 ◽  
pp. 27-39
Author(s):  
S. K. Choudhary ◽  
Rajesh Kumar ◽  
Arun Kumar ◽  
Rakesh Deo Ranjan
Keyword(s):  
Crop Yields ◽  
Nutrient Use Efficiency ◽  
Soil Health ◽  
Micronutrient Deficiencies ◽  
Nutrient Deficiencies ◽  
Eligibility Criteria ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Nutrient Use ◽  
Fertilizer Recommendations ◽  
Use Efficiency

Blanket fertilizer recommendations for different crops have caused poor nutrient supply, low nutrient use efficiency and limited crop response. Customized fertilizers may help to sustain soil health by ensuring appropriate fertilization. Hence, specific customized fertilizers should be promoted to counteract the problem of expanding multi-nutrient deficiencies in soils. In India, among the nutrients, NPK remain the major ones for increased and sustained productivity. However, the development of high yielding systems will likely exacerbate the problem of secondary and micronutrient deficiencies, not only because larger amounts are removed, but also because the application of large amounts of N, P and K to achieve higher yield targets, as a result in the intensive systems there is every possibility to build up of negative balance and deficiency of secondary and micronutrients. To attain high future targets, customized fertilizers will play a very important role. The development of site and crop specific readymade customized fertilizers based on scientific principles may prove to be more effective to meet the plant requirement and enhance nutrient use efficiency. Such an approach is also likely to boost crop yields and arrest soil fertility decline in a long-run. Thus, this article discusses the manufacturing methodologies, eligibility criteria, success in Indian fertilizer industry, adoption of fertilizer recommendations and problems in marketing of customized fertilizer.

scholarly journals Addition of low-grade phosphate rock for improvement of soil fertility on plant models: A preliminary case study

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 359-365 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rojali Maharana ◽  
Aradhana Basu ◽  
Nabin Kumar Dhal
Keyword(s):  
Plant Growth ◽  
Soil Fertility ◽  
Phosphate Rock ◽  
Crop Productivity ◽  
Waste Utilization ◽  
Low Grade ◽  
Higher Plant ◽  
External Application ◽  
Use Efficiency ◽  
Normal Soil

To sustain food production in the course of time and for efficient utilization of available resources, it is essential to approach improved methodologies and techniques for enhancing crop productivity. Commercial agricultural production has achieved this through the external application of synthetic inorganic fertilizers which has some detrimental effects on the soil structure, composition, microflora and additional characteristic properties of soil. The mining and industrial waste is an unwanted by-product of mining. Reusing and recycling of these wastes is possible therefore recovery and recycling is the most excellent environmental resolution to save raw resources and to diminish the number of industrialized waste materials produced, and also control the contamination of the environment. In the present study, an attempt has been made to utilize low-grade phosphate rock as a fertilizer and its effects on soil fertility. The raw phosphate rock samples are subjected to physicochemical test followed by elemental analysis by EDXRF (Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence). The tests confirmed that it is possible to use this raw phosphate rock as fertilizer for plant growth in a simple process. Different soil and plant parameters were measured. Data on pot experiment revealed higher plant growth is in PR amended soil than normal soil. The greatest positive effect on growth was recorded in the treatments that received phosphate rock (8g) per kg of soil. Thus, observations indicated that direct application of this PR could be an alternative, promising technology for simultaneous waste minimization, waste utilization, and improved resource-use efficiency.

scholarly journals Review of Large-Scale Biochar Field-Trials for Soil Amendment and the Observed Influences on Crop Yield Variations

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vandit Vijay ◽  
Sowmya Shreedhar ◽  
Komalkant Adlak ◽  
Sachin Payyanad ◽  
Vandana Sreedharan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Sequestration ◽  
Soil Fertility ◽  
Crop Yield ◽  
Crop Yields ◽  
Soil Health ◽  
Crop Productivity ◽  
Field Trials ◽  
Soil Conditions ◽  
Rapid Urbanization

Increasing pressure on farming systems due to rapid urbanization and population growth has severely affected soil health and fertility. The need to meet the growing food demands has also led to unsustainable farming practices with the intensive application of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, resulting in significant greenhouse gas emissions. Biochar, a multifunctional carbon material, is being actively explored globally for simultaneously addressing the concerns related to improving soil fertility and mitigating climate change. Reviews on biochar, however, mainly confined to lab-scale studies analyze biochar production and its characteristics, its effects on soil fertility, and carbon sequestration. The present review addresses this gap by focusing on biochar field trials to enhance the current understanding of its actual impact on the field, w.r.t. agriculture and climate change. The review presents an overview of the effects of biochar application as observed in field studies on soil health (soil’s physical, chemical, and biological properties), crop productivity, and its potential role in carbon sequestration. General trends from this review indicate that biochar application provides higher benefits in soil properties and crop yield in degraded tropical soils vis-a-vis the temperate regions. The results also reveal diverse observations in soil health properties and crop yields with biochar amendment as different studies consider different crops, biochar feedstocks, and local climatic and soil conditions. Furthermore, it has been observed that the effects of biochar application in lab-scale studies with controlled environments are not always distinctly witnessed in corresponding field-based studies and the effects are not always synchronous across different regions. Hence, there is a need for more data, especially from well-designed long-term field trials, to converge and validate the results on the effectiveness of biochar on diverse soil types and agro-climatic zones to improve crop productivity and mitigate climate change.

scholarly journals RATIONALE FOR THE NEEDLE DISC DESIGN OF A ROTARY HARROW WITH THE ANALYSIS OF THE STRUCTURE OF THE BODY OF A BIOLOGICAL ANALOGUE

2019 ◽  
pp. 56-64
Author(s):  
Yaropud Vitaliy ◽  
Volyk Borys
Keyword(s):  
Soil Fertility ◽  
Crop Yields ◽  
Sharp Decrease ◽  
Crop Productivity ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
The Body ◽  
Cultivated Plants ◽  
Functional Identification ◽  
Resource Saving ◽  
Small Surface

Modern agricultural production persistently requires solving the problems of increasing crop yields, preserving the effective and potential soil fertility on the basis of resource-saving soil-protective technologies that provide complex mechanization of all technological operations with a significant reduction of energy costs. Of particular relevance is the problem of reducing or completely eliminating the proportion of manual labor when performing the most time-consuming technological operations. A significant reserve for improving the efficiency of land use, increasing the yield of crops is the reduction of time and a significant improvement in the quality of technological operations of tillage. Known tools with needle working bodies, intended for early spring, pre-sowing and harvesting small surface loosening of stubble background in areas with soils that are prone to wind erosion, are inefficient, and increasing their speed leads to a sharp decrease in quality. Crop productivity is the result of the interaction of many factors and conditions, the most important of which are: soil fertility, nature of plants, soil and climatic conditions and mechanized tillage technology. The current level of crop culture requires the search for new resource-saving technologies and machines that fully meet the agrobiological requirements of cultivated plants. In this regard, there is a need to rationalize the use of surface tillage, increase their fertility, as well as protection against erosion. The results of researches of the designs of machines and technologies of surface tillage showed that on the slope lands the most promising is the reception of tillage with leveling of the surface and creation of a micro-cellular structure of the bottom of the loosened layer with fulfillment of all agrotechnical requirements. On the basis of the analysis of the body of the hedgehog, the elements of functional identification with the rotary harrow disc needle are substantiated. The possibility of adopting the needle control mechanism structure as a biological analogue of the mechanism of elastic attachment of needles to the disc of the harrow has been proved. The design of a disk and variants of execution of needles is offered.

scholarly journals Grains Production Prospects and Long Run Food Security in Egypt

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (16) ◽  
pp. 4457 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamdy Sayed Abdou Abdelaal ◽  
Dawn Thilmany
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Agricultural Production ◽  
Crop Yields ◽  
Annual Data ◽  
Climate Conditions ◽  
Scarce Resources ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Use Efficiency ◽  
Future Policy ◽  
Food Imports

Egypt’s population growth, scarce resources, and a struggling economy threaten its capacity to achieve food security. Water is of particular interest at this juncture given impending development projects under increasingly uncertain climate conditions. The main objective of this research is to forecast grains production in Egypt under different productivity scenarios, based on annual data from 1980 to 2017, to estimate and forecast cultivated area. Findings suggest that the potential reduction in the Nile flows into Egypt will adversely impact agricultural production, especially during the summer season, reducing cultivated areas and decreasing crop yields. These findings suggest that Egypt’s reliance on imports will continue and grain imports will increase as the population grows and opportunities to reclaim lands remain limited. If food security and concerns about reliance on food imports persist among leaders, future policy options should focus on increasing water-use efficiency and raising productivity of both land and water.

Grain legume inclusion in cereal–cereal rotation increased base crop productivity in the long run

2019 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 142-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Probir Kumar Ghosh ◽  
Kali Krishna Hazra ◽  
Madasur Subbabhat Venkatesh ◽  
Chandra Sekhar Praharaj ◽  
Narendra Kumar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Fertility ◽  
Grain Yield ◽  
Mung Bean ◽  
Crop Productivity ◽  
Crop Rotations ◽  
Grain Legume ◽  
Rice Grain ◽  
System Productivity ◽  
Long Run ◽  
The Impact

AbstractSustainability of cereal-based cropping systems remains crucial for food security in South Asia. However, productivity of cereal–cereal rotations has declined in the long run, demonstrating the need for a sustainable alternative. Base crop, that is, common crop in different crop rotations, productivity could be used as a sustainability indicator for the assessment of different long-term crop rotations. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of grain legume inclusion in lowland rice–wheat (R-W) and upland maize–wheat (M-W) rotation on system’s base crop (rice in lowland and wheat in upland crop rotations) productivity and sustainability and also in soil fertility. Mung bean (April–May) inclusion in R-W rotation increased rice grain yield by 10–14%. In upland, mung bean inclusion in M-W rotation increased wheat grain yield by 5–11%. Replacing wheat with chickpea in R-W rotation increased rice grain yield by 5–8%. Increased base crop productivity in legume inclusive rotations was attributed to significant improvement in panicle (rice) or spike (wheat) attributes. Increased soil organic carbon and available nitrogen and phosphorus in the legume inclusive rotations significantly influenced the base crop productivity in both the production systems. Among the crop rotations, R-W-Mb (in lowland) and M-W-Mb (in upland) rotations had the highest system productivity and net return. Therefore, intensification/diversification of cereal–cereal rotations with grain legume could improve soil fertility and sustain crop productivity.

scholarly journals Influence of the AquaCrop soil module on the estimation of soybean and maize crop yield in the State of Parana, Brazil

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 234-241
Author(s):  
Jorge Luiz Moretti de Souza ◽  
Stefanie Lais Kreutz Rosa ◽  
Karla Regina Piekarski ◽  
Rodrigo Yoiti Tsukahara
Keyword(s):  
Crop Yields ◽  
Texture Classification ◽  
Simulation Models ◽  
Crop Productivity ◽  
Maize Crop ◽  
Aquacrop Model ◽  
Standard Scenario ◽  
Maize Yields ◽  
Soil Climate

The values of the physical-water attributes of soils for use in agricultural simulation models are usually obtained using difficult and time-consuming methods. The objective of this study was to analyze the performance of the AquaCrop model to estimate soybean and maize crop productivity in the region of Campos Gerais (Brazil), with the option of including soil physical-water attributes in the model. Real crop productivities and input data (soil, climate, crop and soil management) were obtained from experimental stations of the ABC Foundation for the crop years 2006 to 2014. Sixty-four yield simulations were performed for soybean (four municipalities) and 42 for maize (three municipalities), evaluating input soil data scenarios of AquaCrop as follows: i) all soil physical-water attributes were measured (standard) and ii) the attributes were measured only using textural classification of the area (alternative). Real and simulated yields were verified by simple linear regression analyses and statistical indices (r, d, c). The standard scenario yielded performances between very good and excellent (0.75<c≤1.0) for soybean and between bad and excellent (0.40<c≤1.0) for maize. The alternative scenario was more variable, with performances between terrible and excellent (0.0<c≤1.0) for soybean and terrible and medium (0.0<c≤0.65) for maize. Using only the soil texture classification in AquaCrop indicated an easier way to estimate crop yields, but low performances may restrict estimates of soybean and maize yields in Campos Gerais.

Conservation agriculture in Southern Africa: Advances in knowledge

2014 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 328-348 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Thierfelder ◽  
Leonard Rusinamhodzi ◽  
Amos R. Ngwira ◽  
Walter Mupangwa ◽  
Isaiah Nyagumbo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Fertility ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Crop Residues ◽  
Crop Yields ◽  
Conservation Agriculture ◽  
Crop Productivity ◽  
Soil Disturbance ◽  
Crop Rotations ◽  
Water Infiltration ◽  
Soil Parameters

AbstractThe increasing demand for food from limited available land, in light of declining soil fertility and future threats of climate variability and change have increased the need for more sustainable crop management systems. Conservation agriculture (CA) is based on the three principles of minimum soil disturbance, surface crop residue retention and crop rotations, and is one of the available options. In Southern Africa, CA has been intensively promoted for more than a decade to combat declining soil fertility and to stabilize crop yields. The objective of this review is to summarize recent advances in knowledge about the benefits of CA and highlight constraints to its widespread adoption within Southern Africa. Research results from Southern Africa showed that CA generally increased water infiltration, reduced soil erosion and run-off, thereby increasing available soil moisture and deeper drainage. Physical, chemical and biological soil parameters were also improved under CA in the medium to long term. CA increased crop productivity and also reduced on-farm labor, especially when direct seeding techniques and herbicides were used. As with other cropping systems, CA has constraints at both the field and farm level. Challenges to adoption in Southern Africa include the retention of sufficient crop residues, crop rotations, weed control, pest and diseases, farmer perception and economic limitations, including poorly developed markets. It was concluded that CA is not a ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution and often needs significant adaptation and flexibility when implementing it across farming systems. However, CA may potentially reduce future soil fertility decline, the effects of seasonal dry-spells and may have a large impact on food security and farmers’ livelihoods if the challenges can be overcome.

scholarly journals Reflections on Efforts Geared toward Improved Soil Fertility and Crop Yields in Kenya

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Arusey Chebet ◽  
Ruth Njoroge ◽  
Wilson Ng’etich
Keyword(s):  
Soil Fertility ◽  
Crop Yields ◽  
Agricultural Research ◽  
Soil Phosphorus ◽  
Research Work ◽  
Crop Productivity ◽  
Soil Testing ◽  
Research Network ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Impact

A successful strategy aimed at enhancing crop productivity relies on its ability to be implemented practically in the field (farmers’ field). Many research-based activities and promising soil fertility technologies are largely not adopted. This paper examines the impact of the agricultural research conducted at the University of Eldoret, agricultural institutes and the government of Kenya projects at a farm level on crop yields. Precisely, this paper narrows down to research done with an aim of exploring system approaches that address soil phosphorus and its effect on increasing crop yields in Western Kenya. Strategies like the collaboration of scientists and non scientists (transdisciplinary process) produced successful results. A qualified soil test with differentiated soil testing recommendations increases the yield by about 1.5 t dry maize ha-1. Participating in a transdisciplinary process provides an additional surplus of about 1 t dry maize ha-1 yield. Economically, this is a highly attractive result; given that soil testing costs around 20 USD, a surplus of 1 t dry maize returns approximately 330 USD. Although literature registers success stories of many research work, there is slow and limited adoption rate of the output by farmers. We          suggest the development and expansion of transdisciplinary research and creation of Farmer Research Network to seek a one-size-fits-all solution for farmers to adopt technologies with proven success.

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