Assessment of Agronomic and Economic Benefits of Fertilizer Use in Maize Production Systems under Variable Farm Size, Climate and Soil Fertility Conditions in Odisha

The current study involved delineation of farm typology based on the information collected through survey on different socio-economic, bio-physical and resource availability aspects of farmers. The study considered two established (Bolangir and Keonjhar) and two emerging (Cuttack and Baleswar) maize-growing districts of Odisha. In each district, three farm types were identified based on the resource endowment of farmers and each farm type was assigned with an yield target. Nutrient Expert® (NE) was used to determine the nutrient requirement for an identified yield target, which was compared with farmers' fertilizer practice (FP) and the state recommendation (SR).

In Bolangir, the grain yield of maize with NE averaged 6.9 t/ha and ranged from 5.8 to 7.8 t/ha, which was 19% higher than the SR and 36% higher than the FP. Similarly, in district Keonjhar, the average maize yield with NE was 7.3 t/ha and ranged from 5.6 to 8.9 t/ha, which was 21% higher than the SR and 38% higher than FP, respectively. Also, being the established maize growing districts, the yield targets estimated using NE ranged between 6 to 8 t/ha in both the districts, and the actual yields recorded in both districts using NE were 103% of the estimated yield, indicating that NE was capable of successfully estimating the yield targets based on the identified farm typology.

In the emerging maize growing regions of Odisha, the average grain yield of maize with NE in Cuttack district was 7.3 t/ha, which was 27% higher than the SR and 62% higher than the FP. In Baleswar district, grain yield of maize with NE averaged 7.6 t/ha and ranged from 6.3 to 8.5 t/ha, which was 18% higher than the SR and 35% higher than the FP. Thus, the results indicated that fertilizer recommendations made using Nutrient Expert based on the identified farm typology helped in significantly improving the maize yield over the SR and FP. The results further helped in improving the profitability of farmers both in the emerging and established maize growing areas of Odisha. This year, the project was concluded in the state of Odisha.