Dissemination of Nutrient Expert® Fertilizer Decision Support Tool for Wheat and Maize in Eastern India
A total of 24 KVKs across three states of this zone have conducted the NE® trial supported by IPNI. These KVKs are of Bihar, Jharkhand, and West Bengal. The common experimental design for all implementing KVKs was:- (i) Group-I: Farmer’s practice; (ii) Group-II: Application of recommended dose of fertilizers; and (iii) Group-III: Application of fertilizer doses as per the NE® tools developed by IPNI. The trials were conducted on wheat (by 22 KVKs), though few trials were also carried out on maize (2 KVKs) during last Rabi season pre-dominantly under Rice-Wheat production system. The unique nature of this trial was that the individual farmer was provided with all the three technological options for his/ her plot(s). The data were collected for their further analysis in order of extension of the NE® for wheat/maize to be recommended for this zone.
IPNI-2014-IND-529
2014 Annual Interpretive Summary
Nutrient Expert® (NE) dissemination trials for hybrid maize and wheat were conducted among the farmers of three agriculturally resourceful eastern Indian states comprising of Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal. There were 12 districts from Jharkhand, 9 districts from Bihar, and 3 districts from West Bengal selected during the Rabi season of 2013-14 in collaboration with 24 Krishi Vigyan Kendras (Knowledge Dissemination Center for Farmers) for NE dissemination. The KVKs are "last mile delivery implementation units" of the national extension divisions of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). The common experimental design was: 1) Farmer’s fertilizer practice (FFP); 2) Application of State-recommended dose of fertilizers (SR); and 3) Application of fertilizer application according to NE recommendations. The unique nature of this trial was that the individual farmer was provided with all the three technological options for his/her plot(s). The data on various yield and soil health parameters, residue management, etc. were collected for their further analysis in order to support extension of the NE for wheat/maize for this region.
The results obtained in the three districts of West Bengal show an increase in grain yield of wheat with fertilizer rates recommended by NE irrespective of crop variety. The overall increase in yield in NE plots was recorded at 39% higher than FFP. In the case of 12 KVKs of Jharkhand, the application of fertilizer following the recommendations of NE yielded the best. There was gradual increase in the yield across the FFP, SR and NE treatments, with NE out-yielding FFP by 36% in Jharkhand. In Bihar, out of the selected nine KVKs, two (Bhagalpur and Madhepura) conducted trials on maize and one (Bhagalpur) conducted trial on both the crops (i.e., wheat and maize). Overall findings of Bihar showed that the wheat yield increase over the FFP was 38%. Two KVKs of Bihar (i.e., Madhepura and Bhagalpur) conducted trial on maize using NE in eight different locations. The results showed a grain yield increase of 17% for NE over FFP.