Soil Tailored Fertilizers Boost Rice Yield & Profit in NICRA Village Farmers in Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract

Knowledge on soil fertility is crucial for managing the nutrients in a particular soil. Deterioration of soil fertility may be due to imbalanced fertilizer application without soil testing and continuous high-yield cropping. Under the National Innovation and Climate Change for Agriculture (NICRA) project, this study was conducted to assess the village's soil fertility status and suggest the ideal fertilizer dosage. A total of 50 soil samples were collected and analyzed for different soil parameters in the Naduvananthal village of Mailam block, Villupuram district. The soil pH, available potassium, phosphorus, and nitrogen, organic carbon, and electrical conductivity (EC) were analyzed. The Electrical Conductivity shows a neutral to alkaline response in the soils. The soil had low to moderate levels of organic carbon and low to moderate levels of available nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. The recommendations for rice nutrients were determined by taking into account the various soil properties that were observed. Given that soil fertility is low in available nitrogen, medium in available phosphorus, and high in available potassium, this ensures that rice will absorb nutrients in a balanced manner. The recommendation for the rice crop according to the farmer's practice was 130:58:75 kg NPK hectare-1 the recommendation for fertilizer based on soil testing was 150:50:50kg NPK hectare-1. This results in a reduction of up to Rs. 890 ha-1 in cultivation costs, while also maintaining balanced nutrition and increasing rice productivity with additional returns of 530 kg ha-1.