Computation of phosphorus requirement for targeted yield of major crops in Madhya Pradesh

Abstract

Introduction of high yielding varieties (HYVs) coupled with spreading out of irrigation facilities, and augmented use of chemical fertilizers and other agro-chemicals have brought about impressive increase in the yield of crops whereas about half of the total increase in food grain production has been attributed to the use of nutrients fertilizer. Application of plant nutrients through fertilizer and manure is being done since long onthebasis of various experiences to meet the objective of achieve utmost economic yield of crops. In recent past a variety of techniques are employed for fertilizers recommendation to maximize the crop productivity but most of them are developed for nitrogen only (SPAD, LCC, sensorbased, dynamic modeling etc.). Phosphorus is one of the most important plant nutrients next to nitrogen but more expensive and need to be applied in very precise manner to maximize its use efficiency and sustaining soil health. With this objective soil test value and targeted yield based transfer functions were developed to predict of truthful dosage of phosphorus fertilizer to achieve the targeted yield of major crops (wheat, paddy, chickpea, field pea, urid, soybean, mustard and linseed) grown in Madhya Pradesh. The results showed that the transfer functions equations developed for phosphorus prescription based on soil test values were very much useful for achieving the targeted productivity of crops as the deviation in actual yields of most of the crops was within 10 per cent. It can be concluded that generated transfer function equations for prediction of phosphorus fertilizer dosing could be efficiently used at farmer's field but further refinements is needed for achieving higher targeted yield precisely in altered soil and varietal situations. In light of complex behavior of phosphorus in soil these transfer functions could be the very useful tool for farmers to apply the phosphatic fertilizers for achieving targeted yield ofcrops.