FERTILIZER IN AGRICULTURE OF INDIA

TECHNOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT FOR SUSTAINABLE AGRO-INDUSTRY

INPUTS FOR HIGHER AGROPRODUCTIVITY

Quality seeds Irrigation and drainage Fertilizer

Protect against insects, pests, diseases:

agrochemicals

Sixteen elements are required by the crops:

Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen, [from water and air], Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium, [macro], Calcium, Magnesium, Sulphur, Chlorine,[micro], Iron, Manganese, Silicon, Boron, Zinc, Copper, Nickel, Molybdenum and Selenium [Traces]

The amount and relative proportion of these nutrients will depend on a number of factors. The most important factors are: (i) nutrient status of soil and (ii) nutrient requirement of the crop.

TYPES OF FERTILIZERS
Organic fertilizer or manure

Chemical fertilizer
Bio-fertilizer Composted manure

Vermi - composted manure

Organic Manure
Organic manure not only provides plant nutrients but also improves soil physical, chemical and biological properties. In addition to fertilizers, the use or organic manure is essential for sustaining crop productivity. Preparation of good quality manure

Fill the mixture of dung, urine and other materials layer by layer ; moistening it each time. Add suitable inoculum to hasten the rate of decomposition of manure. Enrich the mixture with 100 kg of rock phosphate/bone meal/ superphosphate to improve the nutrient content of manure. Seal the pit with mud plaster after it is filled. The manure ready for use after 4-6 months.

Primary Nutrients
Nitrogen: Ammonia or nitrate salts Phosphorus: Water soluble phosphates of calcium, Di-ammonium phosphate Potassium: Potassium chloride

Integrated Plant Nutrient Management (IPNM)

It aims at maintaining soil fertility and plant nutrient supply

for sustainable crop productivity by adjusting

chemical fertilizer,

organic manure,
biofertilizer and crop residues.
Different proportions of these components are to be used based upon crop requirements and availability of materials

IPNM will be the means through which the longterm fertility of the soil will be assured and

contamination of the environment minimized.

Yet, IPNM alone will not be sufficient to bring this

about; farmers need to adopt effective and

efficient crop, pest, soil, and water management

techniques as well. Governments have an

important role to play to promote effective and

environmentally sound management of plant

nutrients.

Institutions have to promote effective and

environmentally sound management of

o plant nutrients,
o improve research, o monitoring,

o participation, and
o extension

of effective plant nutrient management.

Governments have to support complementary

measures to lower costs, recycle urban waste,

secure land tenure. Also it is necessary to

increase production capacity, to improve

transport and communication infrastructure, and

to establish an effective institutional environment

conducive to the efficient functioning of nutrient,

other input and output markets.

The cropping system rather than the individual crop

and the farming system rather than the individual field are the focus of this approach for developing IPNM systems for major agro-ecological zones and for various categories of farms. Control of pests and diseases in agriculture is very important. Earlier approaches of insecticides

applications to contain pests is no longer desirable

because of their increasing costs and the adverse effects on the environment. Therefore, the concept of IPM all over the world has assumed great importance.

General nutrient recommendation for some important crops

Bio fertilizers (BF) (microbial inoculants) are the

products containing living cells of different types of micro organisms (bacteria, fungi, actinomycetes, etc.) which have the ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen and mobilize phosphorus in the soil from unavailable form to plant usable form. Use of Rhizobium culture in legumes is most promising among different kinds of biofertilizers

Vermi-Compost
Vermi-composting uses earthworms to produce compost from organic residues.

Earthworms can practically eat all kinds of

organic matter. The guidelines for

preparing a good quality vermi - compost

should be adopted.

CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS
EXPENSIVE, TO PRODUCE THOUGH NEEDED INPUT FOR HIGH YIELDING FOOD CROPS, EXCESS CAN CAUSE ENVIRONMENTAL ADVERSE IMPACT

Total P content in soil is usually high, but most of this soil P pool is not in forms available for plant uptake (insoluble in water). Bacteria that can mobilize P from unavailable soil pools and increase

P availability to plants are of great importance. Most

predominant phosphorus-solubilizing bacteria (PSB)

belong to the genera Bacillus and Pseudomonas.

Field experiments highlight the potential importance

of PSB.

phosphorus-solubilizing bacteria (PSB)

o Sundara et al. (2002) applied rock phosphate

with a PSB (Bacillus megaterium var.

phosphaticum) in lignite-based culture medium in a field experiment. o They found that PSB amendment could increase sugarcane yield by 12.6 percent. o PSB and P fertilizer together reduced the P requirement by 25 percent.

Furthermore, 50 percent of the costly superphosphate could be replaced with inexpensive rock phosphate. PSB also improved the sugar yield and juice quality (Sundara et al., 2002). In conclusion, biofertilizer based on PSB may be of greatest value in allowing use of cheaper P sources.

Indo Maroc Phosphore S A (IMACID), Chambal's

world-class joint venture phosphoric acid plant in Morocco, commenced production in November 1999. The US$ 204 million joint venture project, in equal participation with Office Cherifien Des Phosphates (OCP) of Morocco, produces 3,30,000 tonnes per annum of merchant grade phosphoric acid (54% of P2O5). OCP is the largest producer of phosphoric acid in the world.

Phosphoric acid is a raw material for production

of DAP and other complex fertilizer grades. Zuari

Industries Limited buys its entire phosphoric acid

requirements from IMACID. This arrangement

ensures an uninterrupted supply of phosphoric

acid to the Company to produce DAP and also

helps bridge the gap between demand and

supply of phosphoric acid, since India imports over 80% of its phosphoric acid requirement.

Fertilizers are basic nutrients supplied to soil,

which replenish the depletion or original deficiency

of nutrients in the soil. India is third largest

producer and consumer of chemical fertilizers in the world, and accounts for 12% of the world consumption. The consumption of chemical fertilizers in 1999 was 75.26 kg/hectare. The net sown area in India for food grains production is about 141 million hectares.

Raw materials like phosphate rock, sulphur and potassium salts are imported. Indigenously produced

fertilizer meets only about eighty per cent of the countrys

fertilizer need.

Indian fertilizer industry has played a significant role in

increasing food grains production along with high yielding varieties of seeds and enhanced irrigation facilities, during the green revolution of last thirty years. Growth in fertilizer application took place from 78.4 lakh tonnes in 1965-66 to about 140 lakh tonnes in 1995-96.

The estimated food grain consumption in 2011-12 is 298

million tonnes. To achieve this target an increase in

consumption of fertilizers to185.8 kg/ hectare is needed

The development of chemical fertilizer industry in India took place in three phases. From 1950-65, the awareness of the usefulness of chemical fertilizers in enhancing the crop yield increased along with due consideration for the practice of application of organic manures and green manures. During this period

manufacturing facilities increased gradually.

From the year 1965, increase in farm productivity

was given more importance and growth in fertilizer production and application was enhanced significantly. To provide fertilizers to farmers at reasonable price, the Government of India from 1977 operated the retention price cum subsidy scheme. The producers were provided compensation by the Govt. for supplying fertilizers at the controlled price.

In the mid-seventies prices of hydrocarbon raw materials increased, followed by the mid-eighties finding the increase in yield per mass of fertilizer applied reaching a saturated stage. Over the years, the cost of production has increased and subsidy amount provided to industry greatly increased. In 1992, decontrol of the prices of phosphatic and potassic fertilizers were introduced. This was done as a part of a

policy, which was meant to bring the fertilizer industry in

line with the liberalized and. Pro-market economic policies.

The synergy between the application of inorganic

fertilizer and the development of nutrientresponsive seed varieties was responsible for the phenomenal growth in crop yields and food supplies in developed countries over the past

thirty-five years. The ability of agriculture to

provide for food needs to the year 2020 and beyond is increasingly difficult however.

In developed countries, over-application of

inorganic and organic fertilizers has led to

environmental damage, while

in developing countries, population pressures, land constraints, and the decline of traditional soil management practices have led to a decline in the fertility of the soil.

The over-supply of nutrients from inorganic and

organic sources in excess of plant needs and in the

absence of a mechanism to bind the nutrients to

the soil, can lead to environmental contamination.

Soil nitrate concentrations in excess of plant

absorption needs, for example, allow the soluble

nitrate to be carried away in ground water to

contaminate surface waters and underground

aquifers.

Consumption of water high in nitrate (and nitrite)

has been linked to

blue baby syndrome,

goitre,

birth defects and

heart disease,

and may be involved in the creation of carcinogenic

compds within the body that can cause stomach or

liver cancers.

Leaching and run-off of nitrogen and phosphorus

into rivers, lakes, and inlets, can cause

eutrophication--an excess accumulation of

nutrients in water that promotes algal over-

production. Heavy application of inorganic NPK

fertilizers does not replace secondary and other

micro-nutrients removed by harvested crops,

crop residue and erosion, nor do they directly

improve soil organic matter content and structure.

Lastly, genetic engineering offers the potential in the future for the plants themselves to meet some of their nutrient requirements. Together, these nutrient conservation and replenishment methods need to be managed - reflecting the farmer's

particular bio-physical and socio-economic situations, in

such a way as to provide a cost effective and appropriate level of nutrients to maximize yields and sustain agriculture, without polluting the environment.