Impact of Land Resource Inventory Based Fertilizer Recommendations on Cotton Yield and Soil Sustainability

Abstract

Indiscriminate fertilizer use has become a key factor in land degradation with blanket applications, often depleting resources and weakening soil health. Land Resource Inventory (LRI) serve as a farmer-friendly approach to tackle the problem of unscientific fertilizer use, ensuring more precise and balanced nutrient application. To address this, a field study was conducted during Kharif 2024-2025 in Bu Koppa and Bu Tharlagatta villages of Kundgol Taluk, Dharwad district, to test the benefits of LRI based fertilizer management in cotton. The experiment was carried out with two treatments: farmers in Bu Koppa continued with conventional fertilizer practices, while those in Bu Tharlagatta adopted LRI-based recommendations. Post-harvest analysis showed that LRI fields retained higher levels of organic carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, iron and copper along with enhanced dehydrogenase activity. Cotton performance improved with better plant growth attributes and nutrient uptake compared to non LRI plots. Additionally, it delivered significant benefits, boosting seed cotton yield by 50.9% and lint yield by 35.4%. Economically, LRI adoption increased gross returns, net returns and benefit-cost ratio, despite an additional fertilizer cost. These findings demonstrate that LRI based fertilizer recommendations not only enhance productivity and profitability but also support agricultural sustainability.