C0LLEGE OF AGRICULTURE ,RAIPUR

SESSION -2019-2020

AN ASSIGNMENT ON

METHODS OF FERTILIZER RECOMMENDATION TO CROPS.

COURSE TITLE : MANURES, FERTILIZERS AND SOIL FERTILITY
MANAGEMENT

COURSE NO. : ASOIL 5311

COURSE CREDIT : 3(2+1)

SUBMITTED TO SUBMITTED BY:

Dr. Anurag singh SONAM CHANDRAKAR

Department of soil science. B.Sc.(Ag.) III YEAR
S.NO. TITLE PAGE NO.

1. INTODUCTION 1-2

2. FACTORS 2-3

3. Calibration and interpretation of soil test values for 3

fertilizer recommendations

4. Where conduct experiment 3-4

5. How to do it 4-6

6. Soil test crop response and targeted yield concept 6

7. approches 7

8. parameters 7-8
 Recommendation of Fertilizers:

INTRODUCTION

 For preparing the fertilizer recommendation norms for each class of soil test values, (low,
medium, high) crop response curves are to be prepared.

 This may be prepared for a particular situation or may be the average of a number of
experiments in which climate, soil and the operator varied.

 Soil testing interpretation involves economics because it is used to make a fertilizer

recommendation for an economic goal i.e. usually for maximum profit per hectare of
land. This involves the cost of the fertilizer and price of the produce.

 From the response curve the actual amount of fertilizers can be calculated to give the
maximum profit per hectare.

 In the absence of crop response curve, the fertilizer needed for maximum yield
can be evaluated with maximum field experiments.
 For the soil with maximum soil test values and soil in which practically no
fertilizer response is obtained should be included.
 The fertilizer need for maximum yield at different fertility index is determined.
 This will give a linear relationship. The curve may be used as a base line for
recommendation of fertilizer at different soil test values or fertility index. As a
thumb rule two-third of the amount needed for maximum yield is considered as
the most economic rate.
 Including the soil test values the most economic rate of fertilizer will depend
upon many other factors whose interpretation mainly depend upon personal
judgements.

factors are appended below:

1. For recommending fertilizer dose, the following points should be

considered:

(a) Initial fertility status of soil

(b) Additional produce and the price of the additional produce

(c) Cost of fertilizer

(d) Farm management quality

(e) Productive potentiality of the land

(f) Possibility of risk involved

(g) Availability of the fertilizer

(h) Crops to be grown

2. For selection of the fertilizer, the following points should be taken

into consideration:

(i) Soil characteristics

(ii) Crops to be grown

3. For methods of fertilizer application, the points to be considered are:

(i) Soil characteristics

(ii) Other factors, like crops, type of fertilizers etc.

4. For time of fertilizer application, the following points are to be

considered:

(i) Soil texture.

(ii) Other factor, like crops, kind of fertilizers.

Calibration and Interpretation of Soil Test Values for Fertilizers

Recommendations:
A method for determining the nutrient supplying power of soils is considered to be
suitable when the amount of nutrients extracted by the reagent is proportional to the
amount absorbed by a crop.Chemical values obtained by extraction have no absolute
meaning.

It neither furnishes any information about the nutrient supply available to the root
system of plants, nor does it indicate anything about the yield expected at that
fertility level. But it can be meaningful when the soil test values can speak in the
language of the crops. Thus they can be given meaning by calibration of the test
results against crop response.

The process of determining the crop soil relationship is commonly referred to as

calibration of chemical soil test values. A calibrated soil test value for a particular
nutrient will indicate the degree of deficiency of that nutrient, expected per cent
increase on fertilizer to correct the deficiency.

The present system of calibrating the soil values as low, medium and high has a
handicap for varying interpretation of such terms by different research workers. For
its use cooperative efforts among the workers of different parts of the country is
necessary. To calibrate test values they should be expressed in terms of relative yield
or percentage at any soil test value may be termed a fertility index.

Where to conduct Experiments?

For calibrating soil test values by crop response, the plant should be grown in the
same manner as they would grow in the field. Therefore, studies based on growth of
seedlings, plants, plant growth under artificial conditions, as in pots, are not valid
basis for calibration of soil test values. Because this will not count the full life cycle of
the plant, the sub-soil nutrition etc.

How to do it?
The percentage yield or the percentage sufficiency of a particular soil test value with
respect to a nutrient can be determined by growing crop in the field with different
levels of the nutrient.
The maximum yield beyond which no response to nutrient application is obtained is
taken as 100 and the yield of unfertilized plot expressed as percentage of the
maximum yield is the relative yield percentage or percentage sufficiency of the
nutrient.

This will be the basic principle of calibrating the soil test values in terms of
percentage sufficiency.

As the crop responses to soil test values are influenced by many other factors like
soil type, crop species, climate, farm management etc. these differences should be
taken into consideration.

But unfortunately these are not taken into consideration in our country. One easier
way of accounting these effects is to categories the calibration.

Any factor that changes the response relationship can be the basis for grouping data
into calibration category. Usually soil characteristics and crop species are considered
for such calibration categories.

Because of the wide range in soil characteristics and many crops for which
recommendations are to be made, exhaustive research under all conditions is
impractical.

Therefore both soils and crops must be combined into manageable groups based on
data available.

By field experiments the various soils test values may be calibrated in terms of
percentage sufficiency level or fertility index in different soil types for various crops
for which fertiliser recommendations are needed.
The data available through these experimental will not only calibrate the test values,
but also help in grouping the soils and the crops. This is possible by inserting the
values in scattered diagram.

It there are four soil types, A, B, C, D and the calibrated soil test values show the
following pattern:

According to the distribution it is clear that the soils A, B and C, D may be grouped
into two categories for all purposes in calibrating the chemical test values and
fertilizer recommendations.

In the same way the crops also may be grouped for all practical purposes.

As for example, wheat, paddy, oat may be put in one group and maize, jowar,
sugarcane may be put in another group on the basis of their behaviour towards Soil
test values. Three categories with respect to soil may show following types of
responses to soil test values

Once the test values are rated in terms of fertility index, the values of each category
are put to a number of cells like low, medium, high or very low, medium, high, very
high for operational convenience. The basis of such partitioning may vary from state
to state and country to country.

Soil Test Crop Response and Targeted Yield Concept:

Due to adoption of multiple cropping and introducing of high yielding varieties of
principal crops in our country, soils are depleted in nutrients at a much faster rate
than in the case of old cropping system. As a result, crop production has become
highly fertilizer oriented.

As costs of fertilizers are very high in our country, judicious uses of fertilizers are
required. Soil testing is one of the accepted methods for the economic use of
fertilizer but there are many problems in making fertilizer recommendations based
only on soil test values.

Recently in our country systems of soil test ratings are being modified incorporating
crop response data available from systematic field experiments.

It has been accepted by the scientists that any soil test method intended for use in
advisory work needs to be correlated with actual crop response obtained under field
conditions, and the success of the fertilizer recommendations programme will
depend on the accuracy of the calibrations obtained this way. Modern approaches of
soil fertility evaluation are mainly focused towards increasing fertilizer use
efficiency.

The approaches may be as follows:

1. Soil analysis and correlation,

2. Critical soil test level approach,

3. Agronomic approach,

4. Soil fertility cum soil survey,

5. Inductive approach based on soil test and crop response correlation,

6. Deductive approach based on soil test crop response correlation, and

7. Targeted yield concept approach.

The purpose of different approaches is to utilize soil and fertilizer nutrients

judiciously and effectively in a manner best suited to different agro-climatic concept
approach is being discussed.

From the soil test, crop response field experiments, it has been possible
to derive three basic parameters like:

(i) Nutrient requirement in kg per quintal of the produce,

(ii) Percentage contribution from soil available nutrients and

(iii) Percentage contribution from added fertilizers towards making effective

fertilizer prescriptions for specific yields.

The parameters have been calculated as follows:

(i) Nutrient requirement in kg for producing one quintal of grain

= Total uptake of nutrient (Grain + Straw) in kg/ha/Yield of grain (q/ha)

(ii) Contribution from soil (in per cent) (cs)

= Total uptake of nutrient in control plots (kg/ha)/Available soil test values of

control plots (kg/ha) × 100

(iii) Contribution from fertilizer (cf) (in per cent)

= Total uptake of nutrient in treated plot – (available soil test value of nutrient in
treated plot ×cs)

(iv) Contribution percentage from fertilizer = cf/Fertilizer dose applied in kg/ha ×

100

Basic data have been derived from the field experiment conducted under
the project of Soil Test Crop Response Correlation in the district of
Burdwan, West Bengal on Vindhya alluvium soil using paddy (Cv. Ratna)
during kharif season which are as follows:
From the above basic data soil test calibrations are given in the form a ready
reckoner to recommend the fertilizer doses for obtaining specific yield targets.

Based on such scientific information, soil test results can be made useful for making
fertilizer recommendations for different agro-climatic regions.

GIVING FERTILIZER RECOMMENDATIONS

An approach for giving fertilizer recommendations refers to the way conclusions are drawn
based on soil tests. Soil-testing labs and crop consultants may give different
recommendations based on the same test results if they use different approaches. This may
be very confusing to both growers and the person who gives the recommendations.
There are four basic fertilizer recommendation approaches:
      Buildup and Maintenance
      Sufficiency
      Basic cation saturation ratios
      Quantitative approach
 REFERENCES

 Tisdale s. I., nelson w.l.,beaton j.d; soil fertility and fertilizer; macmillan publishing
company new york fourth edition.

 https://www.smart-fertilizer.com/articles/fertilizer-recommendations

 http://www.soilmanagementindia.com/soil-testing/soil-testing-plant-analysis-and-
fertilizer-recommendations/3106