Integrated nutrient management

Integrated Nutrient Management (INM) uses complementary measures – both natural and man-made sources of soil nutrients and mechanical measures – while considerable attention is paid to timing, crop requirements and agro-climatic considerations (Gruhn et al. 2002). To support INM, real-time crop sensors for site-specific application of nitrogen are a breakthrough in precision agriculture (Singh et al. 2006). Also, the use of remote sensing methods to schedule nitrogen fertilization can help farmers to practice a more sustainable agriculture, minimizing risks of losing the harvest by providing an adequate rate of nitrogen when the crops’ needs and at a specific location (Yousfi et al., 2020).

The combination of mineral and organic fertilizers shows sustained yields in the long run compared to just mineral fertilization, as well as increased crop production per unit of synthetic fertilizer applied (Gruhn et al., 2000). Inorganic fertilizer combined with green manure leads to increased yields in rice-groundnut cropping (Prasad et al., 2002). They registered yield increases of 1.6 t/ha and 0.25 t/ha for rice and groundnut respectively.

References:

Gruhn, P., Goletti, F., Yudelman, M., 2000. Integrated Nutrient Management, Soil Fertility, and Sustainable Agriculture: Current Issues and Future Challenges. Food, Agriculture, and the Environment Discussion Paper 32. IFPRI, Washington, DC.

Prasad, P.V.V., Satyanarayana, V., Murthy, V.R.K., Boote, K.J., 2002. “Maximising yields in rice-groundnut sequence through integrated nutrient management”. Field Crops Research 75, 9-21.

Singh, I., Srivastava, A.K., Chandna, P., Gupta, R.K., 2006. “Crop sensors for efficient nitrogen management in sugarcane: potential and constraints”. Sugar Tech. 8(4), 299-302.

Yousfi, S., Fernando Marin Peira, J., Rincón De La Horra, G., & V. Mauri Ablanque, P. (2020). Remote Sensing: Useful Approach for Crop Nitrogen Management and Sustainable Agriculture. In Sustainable Crop Production. IntechOpen. https://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.89422