Integrated Nutrient Management for Improving the Soil Sustainability and Crop Productivity: A Review

Abstract

The excessive of chemical fertilizers with minimal organic inputs in modern agriculture are resulted in nutrient deficiencies and environmental problems. The inorganic chemical fertilizers cannot sustain plant nutrition in highly intensive agricultural systems. Sustainable yield and crop performance are difficult to improve without balanced application of nutrient management practices. The integrated nutrient management (INM) strategies involved the application of vermi-compost, green manure, cover crops, crop residues, vermi-compost and farmyard manure. Since organic manure cannot synchronized the concentrated requirement of plant nutrients as per crop demands, hence balanced integration of organic and inorganic fertilizers helps to improve the crop productivity and economic returns to famers. Therefore, INM strategy has come up as field specific approach in modern era. The INM strategy build-up the organic matter which improve the crop performance and efficient management of water and nutrients. However, optimizing the timing, rate, source and methods of nutrient application is helpful in achieving the higher apparent recovery efficiency and crop production synchronization with crop demands.