Precision Nutrient Management: A Review

摘要

Precision nutrient management is one of the key components of the precision agriculture and governs all the major issues of improving productivity, sustainability, profitability and climate change related turbulences. Soil test based nutrient management recommendations have served the purpose of improving food grain production but have not improved the nutrient use efficiency beyond a certain limit. Researchers have appropriately shifted to an approach of feeding the crops rather than feeding the soil. The current research is oriented more towards synchronizing nutrient supply with plant needs. Assessing plant nutrient demand from plants is more efficient strategy as plant growth at any given time integrates the effect of nutrient supply from all the sources and is thus a reliable indicator of its availability. The availability of quick and non-destructive measures (optical sensors, chlorophyll meter and leaf colour chart) to quantify spectral characteristics of leaves have successfully facilitated the task of making in-season need-based nitrogen application in crops. The economical and farmers-friendly tools like leaf colour chart are gaining popularity among farmers and would become prestigious tool for every farm as and when farmers have to pay full price of the nitrogen fertilisers. The research and adoption of precision management of nutrients other than nitrogen is progressively growing in developed countries but developing countries have yet to strengthen the subject for establishing precision nutrient management recommendations based on omission plot technique or nutrient management models.