Fertility Mapping and Balanced Fertilization for Sustaining Higher Productivity of the Pearl Millet-Wheat Cropping System in Agra District

Objectives

1. Estimation of nutrient supplying capacity of Western UP soils through nutrient omission studies.
2. Estimation of nutrient requirement of wheat for unit yield from yield vs. uptake relations.
3. Village level fertility mapping using GIS and developing recommendations from maps for the subsequent crops.

Work Plan
(A) Nutrient omission plot trials

For this study, 4-5 villages will be selected and from each village, 4-5 farmers will be chosen for field experiments using wheat as test crop with following treatments:

Treatments

1. N P K S
2. P K S (- N)
3. N K S (- P)
4. N P S (- K)
5. N P K (- S)

Replicaltion: 4-5 (farmers field in each village)
Design: R.B.D.
Observations to be recorded
(i) Yield : Grain and straw
(ii) Grain and straw samples will be analysed for N P K S and Zn content.
(iii) Uptake of nutrients (N P K S and Zn by grain and straw) will be calculated
(iv) Soil analysis : Initial and final soil analysis will be done for organic carbon, available N P K S and Zn contents.

(B) Fertility mapping

(i) An intensively cultivated village in the Western Uttar Pradesh will be selected and soil samples will be collected at pre-determined grid (grid size 100×100 m or 250×250 m depending on the area of village)
(iii) Soil samples will be analysed for pH, EC, CaCO₃, organic carbon, available N, P, K, S and Zn by adopting standard procedures.
(iv) Surface soil fertility maps of the village will be developed using GIS.
(iv) Distribution of different forms will be reported across.
(v) Fertilizer recommendations for the subsequent crop will be made using these maps.