Distribution of Soil nutrients and fertilizer recommendation for paddy at NICRA village in Thiruvarur district of Tamil Nadu

Abstract

Knowledge of soil fertility is important for site specific nutrient management. Continuous cropping with high yielding crops, unbalanced fertilization without soil testing may be the reason behind deterioration of soil fertility. To sustain the soil fertility as well as to improve the rice yield under “National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA)” project, 50 soil samples were collected at Keezhapattu village, Needamangakam block, Thiruvarur district & analyzed for various soil parameters namely, soil pH, EC, Organic carbon, available nitrogen, available phosphorus and available potassium and fertilizer recommendation for rice was calculated. Soils were neutral to alkaline in reaction with normal Electrical Conductivity (EC). Soil organic carbon content was low to medium, available nitrogen in soil was low, available phosphorus was low to high, available potassium was low to high. The observed spatial variability in various soil properties that influence soil fertility was used for deciding nutrient application to rice. Thus providing balanced nutrients to rice based on analysis of fertility of each parcel of land, which has resulted in enhanced rice productivity and net returns. The nutrient status in farmer’s field was low in available nitrogen, high in available phosphorus and medium in available potassium. The recommendation as per farmers practice for rice crop was 161:58:75 kg NPK per ha, but, recommendation of fertilizer based on soil test was 188:50:50. With this, there is reduction in cost of cultivation up to Rs 785 ha-1, also maintained the balanced nutrition and increased the productivity of rice with additional returns of 1107 kg ha-1.