Fertilizer energy use and crop yield relationships for wheat in the Punjab ecosystems

Abstract

For maintaining a balance in a village ecosystem, a compromise has to be made in the crop yield and the agro-inputs to be used. Data regarding fertilizer energy use and crop yield of 855 farmers of six villages from five different agro-climatic zones of Punjab state, collected for 2 yr, were analyzed statistically. Different mathematical relationships were established between the yield of wheat crop and fertilizer energy use for different categories of farmers. It was observed that Gupta and Nigam's relationship was the best fit on marginal farms. Robb's parabolic relationship was the best fit on the remaining three categories of farms, viz. small, medium and large. It was also observed that fertilizer energy input beyond 8500 MJ/ha reduced the yield.