Preface   Agricultural, horticultural, forestry and fodder production etc. for the burgeoning population are ever increasing enterprises that impose heavy tasks on the management of natural resources. Short term profitability at the cost of sustainability disharmonises the natural forces and processes resulting in peril of the inhabitants of the earth. To this end an understanding with conviction of the interdependency of processes will enhance the realisation of goals in harmony with nature. Intended primarily to be a text book, it will help to educate learners to follow those principles. Students, planners, faculty and any one interested in achieving those goals will find it necessarily useful. We take responsibility for any mistake. The readers are requested to communicate any such mistakes which will be duly taken care of.

Soil fertility -importance From edaphological point of view soil is a medium for plant growth. It holds and nourishes the plants. Soil fertility refers to the ability of soil to supply plant nutrients. Soil fertility and fertilizers are very much closely related terms; and cannot be neglected one from the other in their function. Soil fertility acts as a ‘SINK’ where in plants can draw nutrients for maximum productivity, where as fertilizer, acts as a ‘SOURCE’ wherein we can apply continuously different nutrients. The importance of soil fertility and nutrient management is being increasingly recognized in all countries recently to meet the demand for food and other agricultural raw materials. Intensive use of fertilizer, intensive cropping and high yielding seeds have no doubt increased the food production and reduced the food shortage but it has also ushered in innumerable problems of soil fertility, soil and water pollution. On the other hand, fast depletion of nutrients due to over exploitation, a wide spread deficiency of N, P, K and S coupled with micronutrients deficiencies specially Zn, B and Mo is taking place. Further deforestation, shifting cultivation, burning of crop residues, trees, bushes, grasses and cow dung, soil erosion, nutrient losses and imbalanced nutrient application, leaching losses etc., have aggravated the depletion of soil fertility status. The productivity of Indian agriculture solely depends on scientific management of soil fertility along with judicious and efficient use of fertilizers integrated with organic sources.

Terminology     ·    Nutrient: Nutrients are substances required by an organism for their normal     growth and reproduction.      ·    Plant Nutrient: The plant nutrient is a “food” which is composed of certain chemical elements often referred to as ‘plant nutrient’ or plant food elements considered very essential for growth and development of plants.      ·    Nutrition: The supply and absorption of chemical compounds needed for growth and metabolism of an organism.

The following graph is a visual representation of how plant growth and/or yield is affected by nutrient concentrations

N-Transformation and availability in soils          a.    N-Cycle      b.    N transformation in  soils  Phosphorus transformation & availability in soils:      a.    P-Cycle      b.    P transformation in soils  K-transformations& availability in soils:      a.    K-Cycle      b.    K-Transformations

Organic matter and its composition  Decomposition   Types microorganisms involved  Enzymes involved in decomposition process?

    1.    Acid soil     2.    Causes of soil acidity        3.    Problem of soil acidity      4.    Management or Amelioration of soil acidity          a.    Lime requirement (LR):          b.    Liming reaction in soils               c.    Benefits of liming on acidic soils      5.    Calcareous soil       6.    Formation, characteristics & management of calcareous soil 

    1.    Salt affected soils;     2.    Classification of salt affected soils;      3.    Formation of salt affected soils; 

Alkali soil   Alkali soils are those that contain measurable amounts of soluble salts mostly as carbonates and bicarbonates of sodium. 

Definitions of IPNM  Concept of IPNM  Main objectives of INM  Components of IPNM

The objective of nutrient use is to increase the overall performance of cropping systems by providing economically optimum nourishment to the crop while minimizing nutrient losses from the field and supporting agricultural system sustainability through contributions to soil fertility or other soil quality components. NUE addresses some but not all aspects of that performance. The most valuable NUE improvements are those contributing most to overall cropping system performance. Therefore, management practices that improve NUE without reducing productivity or the potential for future productivity increases are likely to be most valuable. An excellent review of NUE measurements and calculations was written by Dobermann (2007). Table  is a summary of common NUE terms, as defined by Dobermann, along with their applications and limitations. The primary question addressed by each term and the most typical use of the term are also listed below.

Fertilizers are applied to supplement nutrient requirement of the crop. It should not be looked as a substitute to organic sources. After determination of nutrient requirement of a crop fora given yield and contribution of nutrients from different sources, articularly, from the soil source, it is necessary to supplement the balance from the inorganic sources. These are determined by field experimentation supplemented by pot-culture, laboratory and green housestudies, if necessary. When a fertilizer is applied all of its nutrient (s) are not absorbed by the crop. The interactions between soil-crop-season and other factors are quite significant. Only a fraction of the nutrient(s) is utilized by the crop.

Methods of soil fertility evaluation               I.    Nutrient deficiency symptoms on plants       II.    Plant analysis     III.    Biological tests        IV.    Soil testing     V.    Spectral sensing for site specific evaluation

Soil fertility evaluation is conducted for providing an adequate supply of essential plant nutriens to ensure optimum plant productivity, while maximising economic benefits and minimising environmental degradation.   Mathematical modelling of nutrient application The significance of an essential plant nutrient was contained in the Liebig’s law of minimum.

Fertilizer Fertilizers are defined as materials having definite chemical composition with a high analytical value that supply essential plant nutrients in available form. They are usually manufactured by industries and sold with a trade name. They are commonly synthetic in nature and also called as chemical fertilizers/inorganic fertilizers/commercial fertilizers other than lime and gypsum. Most of the chemical fertilizers are inorganic in nature.

Methods of fertilizer application Two major methods are used to apply fertilizers   I) Application of fertilizers in solid form  II) Application of fertilizers in liquid forms

Fertilizer (Control) Order, 1985 which is administered by Deptt.of Agriculture Cooperation, Govt. of India has been issued under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955. The FCO lays, down as to what substances qualify for use as fertilizers in the soil, product-wise specifications, methods for sampling and analysis of fertilizers, procedure for obtaining license/registration as manufacture/dealer in fertilizers and conditions to be fulfilled for trading thereof, etc.

Use of biofertilizers in agriculture and their advantage   Bio-fertilizers or bio-inoculants These are productions containing living organisms such as nitrogen fixers or phosphorus solubilises which are useful for agricultural production. Biofertilizers play a significant role in improving soil fertility and plant growth. By fixing atmospheric nitrogen both in association with plants and without plants solubilize insoluble soil phosphates into soluble phosphates there by increasing the availability of phosphorus secrete growth promoting substances and supplies to the inoculated plants.

Plant nutrients are naturally components of the soil orchestrated by weathering processes and that the abundance of these metals in our soil environment now-a-days is due to numerous anthropogenic activities. In the environment, heavy metals are partitioned among the various environmental compartments such as water, soil, suspended solids and biota. Processes such as dilution, dispersion, sedimentation, adsorption and desorption govern their distribution. They also exist in colloidal ionic particulate and dissolved phases,  have a high affinity for humic acids, organic colloids and oxides coated with organic matter. The soluble forms are generally ions or unionised organo metallic chelates or complexes. The solubility of metals in soil and groundwater is predominantly controlled by pH, amount of metal, cation exchange capacity, organic carbon content, the oxidation state of the mineral components and the redox potential of the system.

The requirement of micronutrients is always in low amounts while their moderate decrease causes the deficiency symptoms and a moderate increase causes toxicity. In other words, there is a narrow range of concentration at which the elements are optimum. Any mineral ion concentration in tissues that reduces the dry weight of tissues by about 10 per cent is considered toxic. Such critical concentrations vary widely among different micronutrients. The toxicity symptoms are difficult to identify. Toxicity levels for any element also vary for different plants. Many a times, excess of an element may inhibit the uptake of another element.

Toxic elements like Cadmium (Cd), Fluoride (F), heavy metals, radioactive metals are associated with mainly rock phosphates, other organic wastes like sewage sludge and pollutants. Their chemistry is similar to plant nutrients and replace them in their physiology leading to reduced uptake of nutrients, productivity and contaminated food chain.

Further Reading Brady, N.C. and Weil, R.R. 2002. The Nature and Properties of Soils.13thEd. Pearson Edu. Fageria, N.K., Baliger, V.C. and Jones, C.A. 1991. Growth and Mineral Nutrition of Field Crops. Marcel Dekker. Havlin, J.L., Beaton, J.D., Tisdale, S.L. and Nelson, W.L. 2006. Soil Fertility and Fertilizers. 7th Ed. Prentice Hall. Mengel, K. and Kirkby, E.A. Principles of Plant Nutrition. Kluver Academic Publishers. Prasad, R. and Power, J.F. 1997. Soil Fertility Management for Sustainable Agriculture. CRC Press. Russel’s Soil Co3nditions and Plant Growth 13th Ed. –Allan Wild [ed.] English Language Book Society. Yawalkar, K.S., Agarwal, J.P. and Bokde, S. 2000. Manures and Fertilizers. Agri-Horti Publ.