Soil health and Nutrient Management P. D. Sharma Assistant
Director General (NRM) ICAR, Krishi Anusandhan Bhavan II New
Delhi-110 012
Slide 2
Soil Health Capacity of a soil to function within ecosystem
boundaries to sustain biological productivity, maintain
environmental quality and promote plant and animal health. In the
context of agriculture, it may refer to its ability to sustain
productivity. A healthy soil would ensure proper retention and
release of water and nutrients, promote and sustain root growth,
maintain soil biotic habitat, respond to management and resist
degradation
Slide 3
Measure of Soil Health Governed by a number of physical,
chemical and biological attributes and processes. Expressed by
different quantitative and qualitative measures of these attributes
as also by outcomes that are governed by the soil such as
productivity, nutrient and water use efficiencies and quality of
produce.
Slide 4
Declining Soil Health A Cause of Concern Deceleration in growth
of total factor productivity in agriculture, especially in IGP
states. State1981-82 to 1989-90 1990-91 to 1996-97 West
Bengal5.131.25 Haryana3.220.10 Bihar1.470.24 Uttar Pradesh1.400.54
Punjab1.241.20 Source : Kumar et al. (2004)
Slide 5
Declining Soil Health A Cause of Concern Falling productivity
growth rate (% per annum) of major crops in India CropProductivity
1980-81 to 1989-90 1990-91 to 1999-2000 2000-01 to 2002-03
Rice3.191.27-0.72 Wheat3.102.110.73 Pulses1.610.96-1.84 All Food
grains2.741.52-0.69 Oilseeds2.431.25-3.83 Non-food
grain2.311.04-1.02
Slide 6
Required Growth to achieve domestic demand by 2020.
CommodityDomestic production 2006- 07 ( mt) Growth rate during
1998-99 to 2006-07 (%) Required growth rate over 2006-07 to meet
the demand (%) Cereals201.90.621.9 Pulses14.20.472.1
Foodgrains216.10.611.9 Oilseeds23.61.966.0 Vegetable111.83.680.9
Fruit57.73.062.9 Sugarcane315.5-0.600.6 Milk111.93.652.4
Fish6.92.893.5 Egg (billion)50.76.603.4
Slide 7
Food grain production and fertilizer use Fertilizers An
important input contributing 50% towards improvement in crop
productivity
Slide 8
Low Fertilizer Response - Irrigated Areas Declining Fertilizer
Response
Slide 9
Fertilizer Nutrient Response - Irrigated Areas Declining
Nutrient Response
Slide 10
Year ? BB Mn SSS KKKK Zn PPPP Fe NNNNNN
195019601970198019902000 Emerging Multi-Nutrient Deficiencies in
Soils
Slide 11
Nutrient Status N P K Indian soils poor in N and P with 89 and
80 percent soil samples in low to medium category; relatively
better in K with 50 percent samples only low to medium.
Slide 12
Nutrient Status Micro and Secondary S, Zn, B, Mo, Fe, Mn and Cu
deficient to the tune of 41, 49, 33, 22, 12, 5 and 4 %
respectively.
Slide 13
Sulphur Deficiency in Indian Soils Region / StateNo. of
Samples% samples in category LowMediumHigh Northern
Region15323443026 Western Region12474453025 Eastern
Region10108353332 Southern Region11289632611 All India49194463024
The deficiencies are widespread covering 40- 45% districts and
60mha of net sown area; occurrence more in the southern region. The
deficit to the tune of 1mt/annum.
Slide 14
Zinc Deficiency
Slide 15
Boron Deficiency
Slide 16
Imbalanced fertilizer use evidenced by wider fertilizer
consumption ratios State 2005-062006-072007-08 NP2O5P2O5
K2OK2ONP2O5P2O5 K2OK2ONP2O5P2O5 K2OK2O
Haryana29.68.8147.313.4139.810.91 Punjab19.95.9133.7 9.2134.39.01
U.P.12.14.1116.8 5.2115.14.51
Slide 17
Low nutrient use efficiency NutrientEfficiency (%) Cause of low
efficiency Nitrogen30-50Immobilization, volatilization,
denitrification, Leaching Phosphorus15-20Fixation in soils Al P, Fe
P, Ca P Potassium70-80Fixation in clay - lattices
Sulphur8-10Immobilization, Leaching with water Micro nutrients (Zn,
Fe, Cu, Mn, B) 1-2Fixation in soils
Slide 18
Nutrient Mining in Soils of India (mt) Nutrient Gross
balanceNet balance AdditionRemovalBalanceAdditionRemovalBalance
N10.99.61.35.57.7-2.2 P2O5P2O5 4.23.70.51.53.0-1.5
K2OK2O1.411.6-10.21.07.0-6.0 Total16.524.9-8.48.017.7-9.7 Increased
mining of soil potassium a cause of more rampant decline in rice
yields compared to wheat in IGP (data from 24 research stations)
Source : Tandon (2004)
Slide 19
Projected Food Grain Production, Fertilizer Demand, likely
Consumption and Gap
Slide 20
Managing soil health a formidable challenge to ensure
productivity, profitability and national food security. The United
Nations Millennium Development Task Force on hunger made Soil
Health Enhancement as one of the five recommendations for
increasing agricultural productivity and fight hunger in India.
Declining Soil Health A Cause of Concern
Slide 21
Integrated Nutrient Management (INM) Panacea for soil health
and productivity INM envisaging conjunctive use of chemical
fertilizers, organic manures and biofertilizers enhances nutrient
use efficiency, soil health, crop yields and profitability Need to
augment supplies of organic manures, fortified, coated &
customized fertilizers supplying secondary and micronutrients,
biofertilizers and soil amendments to have INM on a sound footing.
Site specific nutrient management.
Slide 22
Location, State Grain yield* SSNM plot, Kg/ha/ yr Grain yield
FP plot, Kg/ha/yr Nutrients applied under SSNM BCR of improvement
(SSNM-FP) system basis Sabour Bihar 13,849 (60) 8,658N P K S (4)6.8
Palampur HP 9,896 (42) 6,955N P K S B Zn (6) 5.4 R.S.Pura J & K
13,182 (36) 9,718N P K S Cu Mn Zn (7) 2.7 Ranchi Jharkhand 10,957
(77) 6,202N P K S B Cu Mn Zn (8) 7.3 Ludhiana Punjab 16,828 (3)
16,414N P K S B Mn Zn (7) -1.4 (no improve- ment) Site Specific
Nutrient Management Rice-Wheat Cropping System Contd..
Slide 23
Location, StateGrain yield* SSNM plot, Kg/ha/ yr Grain yield FP
plot, Kg/ha/ yr Nutrients applied under SSNM BCR of improvement
(SSNM-FP) system basis Kanpur Uttar Pradesh 14,555 (25) 11,605N P K
S (4)3.6 Modipuram Uttar Pradesh 16,679 (47) 11,334N P K S Cu Mn Zn
(7) 26.8 Varanasi Uttar Pradesh 12,116 (10) 10,996N P K S B Cu Mn
Zn (8) 2.6 Pantnagar Uttaranchal 12,447 (25) 9,974N P K S B (5)4.6
Average13,289.4 (39) 9,933.7 4.90 Site Specific Nutrient Management
Rice-Wheat Cropping System
Enhancing availability of organic manures Recycling and
composting/ vermi composting of urban, animal and agro industrial
waste About 57MT of urban solid waste generated per annum with
potential to supply 8MT of good quality compost. Present
availability 383 mt against the moderate requirement of 900 mt /
annum (@5 t / ha on gross cropped area of 185 mha). FYMRural
compost Urban Compost Vermi Compost OthersTotal 1861691539383
Slide 27
Promoting bio-fertilizers 2003-049.8 2004-0510.6 2005-0610.8
2006-0716.1 2007-0820.1 Production zone wise (%) South60 West29
North2.5 East7.3 North- East 0.5 164 units producing only one-third
of installed capacity of 67,000 t/annum The consumption is skewed -
90% in south & west zones of the country Production (thousand
tonnes)
Slide 28
Acid Soils About 12 m ha of arable acid soils with pH