On- farm precision nutrient prescription under pre- dominant cereal- cereal systems using Nutrient Expert®
The project was initiated to optimize nutrient usage and maximize cereal – cereal systems productivity in various rice growing ecologies and geographies in India. The research project will compare yield and economic performance of field specific fertilizer recommendation through Nutrient Expert with the existing blanket recommendation for predominant cereal- cereal cropping systems in multiple locations of India.
IPNI-2014-IND-528
29 Apr 2016
2015 Annual Interpretive Summary
Inadequate and unbalanced fertilizer application in the cereal-cereal cropping systems of India has reduced farm profits and led to multi-nutrient deficiency in soils, while adversely affecting nutrient use efficiency. Survey results revealed that farmers’ fertilizer management practices are characterized by unbalanced N application, optimal to sub optimal P use, while K and secondary or micronutrient use was almost completely neglected. Application of site-specific nutrient management (SSNM) practices in such cropping systems may help in improving crop yield and farm profits. The current study was initiated under of All India Coordinate Research Project on Integrated Farming System (AICRP-IFS) in 11 states of India, where the Nutrient Expert® (NE) for rice, wheat and maize, a SSNM-based fertilizer decision support tool, was used at six locations under rice-wheat system (RWS), five locations under rice-rice system (RRS), one location under rice-maize system (RMS), and at three locations under maize-wheat system (MWS) to provide field-specific recommendations. At each location, 10 on-farm trials were initiated during the rainy season of 2015 that compared three treatments including: NE-based fertilizer recommendation (NE), the State recommended fertilizer rate (SR), and farmers' fertilizer practice (FFP).
Results revealed that, on average, farmers apply 74 to 198 kg N/ha, 12 to 51 kg P2O5/ha, and 0 to 82 kg K2O/ha to rice under RWS; 32 to 275 kg N/ha, 13 to 132 kg P2O5/ha, and 0 to 120 kg K2O/ha to rice under RRS; 73 to 138 kg N/ha, 29 to 58 kg P2O5/ha, and 19 to 90 kg K2O/ha to rice under RMS; and 21 to 141 kg N/ha, 0 to 44 kg P2O5/ha and 0 to 50 kg K2O/ha to maize under MWS depending upon the cultivars grown at different locations. The NE tool recommended 109-141 kg N/ha, 15-48 kg P2O5/ha and 38-72 kg K2O/ha in rice under RWS; 93 to 141 kg N/ha, 15 to 41 kg P2O5/ha, and 23 to 73 kg K2O/ha in monsoon rice under RRS; and 49 to 65 kg N/ha, 3 to 26 kg P2O5/ha, and 82 to 129 K2O kg/ha for application in maize under MWS. Rice grain yield in NE-based fertilizer recommendations were 2.3 to 6.8 t/ha in RWS and 3.3 to 6.9 t/ha in RRS, which was 5 to 42% higher as compared to FFP. Similar yield gain in maize in the MWS system was 35 to 143% over FFP. Additional cost of implementing NE-based recommendation over FFP was 103 to 773 Rs/ha in rice-wheat system, 56 to 2,544 Rs/ha under RRS system over FFP. In the MWS, additional cost in the NE-based recommendation was 142 to 344 Rs/ha for N and 125 to 480 Rs/ha on P fertilizer over FFP.
Results from multi-location trials across India showed that the field-specific recommendations from the NE tool improved productivity and profitability of cereal systems over existing practices.