Enhancing Nutrient Use Efficiency and Productivity of Cereals through Site Specific Nutrient Management

Abstract

The Green revolution era has been the golden period for boosting food production specifically in South-Asia, but the signs of fatigue in the late 1980s with a sharp decline in factor productivity, stagnation in crop yields with dwindling and marginal farm incomes pose a serious threat to food security, agricultural sustainability, soil and environmental health. In a nutshell, growing concerns related to the decline in soil health, productivity and nutrient-use efficiency (NUE) are compelling farmers to use higher amounts of chemical fertilizers during the last two decades. The low NUE and associated environmental pollution as well as global warming problems have increased serious apprehension about the existing nutrient management practices. As such, it is high time to develop site-specific nutrient management (SSNM) technologies that are able to balance crop and soil nutrient dynamics. The SSNM is need-based feeding of crops with nutrients while acknowledging the inherent spatial variability, which enhances crop productivity, profitability, NUE and avoids nutrient loss. For efficient and effective SSNM, the use of soil and plant nutrient status sensing devices, decision support systems, simulation models, and machines for varying applications of nutrients plays a major role. This paper deals with the SSNM technologies and tools that have the potential to enhance NUE, crop productivity, profitability as well as sustainability.