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Nepal is a major rice producer of South Asia, feeding more than 20 million people of the country and abroad. However, productivity and profitability of rice are low in Nepal compared to other regional countries. Large yield gaps exist between attainable and farmers' yields and nutrient management is identified as one of the major reasons. Nutrient Expert® (NE), a decision-support tool based on site-specific nutrient management (SSNM) principles has been validated and applied in many countries of Asia and Africa as new recommendation protocol for nutrient management in selected crops, including rice. Present study used NE® Rice as nutrient management protocol in farmers' fields across Terai and mid-hills regions of Nepal during 2014–2018. The study revealed that NE-based fertilizer recommendations resulted in increase in yield over 2.0 t.ha−1 (p ≤ 0.05) and double the profits compared to existing blanket fertilizer recommendation, and farmers' fertilizer practice. Due to large variations in slope, altitude, soil, and management, performance of NE® varied across locations. Its performance was better in Terai due to flat lands and less variations in soil types, compared to sloping lands and varied soils of mid-hills. NE tool provided adequate guidance to apply the required rate of fertilizer that matched the crop requirement and soil nutrient supply of each farmer fields. The novelty of the study is introduction of a dynamic fertilizer recommendation approach that can supplement the existing static blanket recommendation system. We conclude that Nutrient Expert® - Rice can be considered as an effective tool for nutrient recommendation for rice in Nepal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Yam (Dioscorea spp.) is an important tropical tuber crop contributing to food and nutritional security of economically backward and ethnic people of many countries in Africa, South America and Asia. Yam yield in the major growing environments of India has been stagnating despite the development of high yielding varieties and increasing use of chemical fertilizers. On-station experiments were conducted to evaluate the performance of site-specific nutrient management (SSNM). Field and crop specific NPK rates were calculated using quantitative evaluation of fertility of tropical soils (QUEFTS) model. The yield advantage of SSNM over current recommendation was 8.16 t ha-1 (mean of 3 yrs). The increase in agronomic efficiency and recovery efficiency of N in SSNM over current recommendation was 24.1 kg kg-1 and 0.09 kg kg-1, respectively. Similar increases were observed for P and K. The results showed the potential of SSNM in increasing yield and nutrient use efficiency of white yam. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The field experiments were conducted to develop fertilizer best management practice (FBMP) by site specific nutrient management (SSNM) and SSNM zonation maps and customised fertilizer ratios at ICAR-CTCRI, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India, during 2012-2015. The SSNM plot resulted in an average actual tuberous root yield of 36.80, 37.40 and 38.70 t/ha during 2012, 2013 and 2014 respectively against a yield target of 40 t/ha. The average yield difference between SSNM and PR for the three crops grown was 5.50 t/ha (17%, P=0.001) and was similar during all the three years. On an average, plant N accumulation increased by 48 kg/ha (25%, P=0.003), P accumulation by 9 kg/ha (50%, P=0.003), and K accumulation by 39 kg/ha (20%, P=0.005). Among the three crops grown, the AEN increased by 34 kg/kg (72%, P=0.002), REN by 0.04 kg/kg (8%, P=0.003) and PEN by 55 kg/kg (58%, P=0.005). The guidelines in estimating the fertilizer N, P2O5 and K2O required by cassava based on tuberous root yield response to fertilizer N, P and K and efficiency of fertilizer N, P and K use also were developed. Soil fertility maps and agro-ecological units, SSNM zonation maps and customised fertilizer ratios were also developed for all the major cassava-growing regions in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

System of Rice Intensification (SRI) was evaluated for the variety Hardinath-1 under nutrient omission treatment (-N, -P, -K, -Zn, -B and +All) through field experiment conducted in randomized complete block design (RCBD) with six treatments and four replications during spring season of 2018 at agriculture field of Sailaja Acharya Memorial Polytechnic, Siswani Jahada, Morang. The highest grain (4.62 t/ha) and straw yields (7.75 t/ha) were obtained from the fully fertilized plot (i. e.+All treatments) which might be due to application of all of the major nutrients in sufficient amount (i. e. 150 : 45 : 45 : 20 : 5 N : P : K : Zn : B kg/ha) along with following SRI principles. Omitting the major nutrients showed significantly lesser growth and yield parameters of rice. The P omitted treatment showed significantly higher sterility percentage (23.74) as P had major role on grain filling and development. The nutrients omission treatment also produced significant effect on plant uptake of N, P, K, Zn and B. Significantly higher uptake of N (76.73 kg/ha), P (38.28 kg/ha), K (52.41 kg/ha), Zn (0.086 kg/ha) and B (0.022 kg/ha) was obtained from fully fertilized plot. Based on plant uptake of nutrient on omission plot, native N, P, K, Zn and B supplying capacity of the soil at research plot was found to be 23.51, 25.94, 37.59, 0.075 and 0.019 kg/ha, respectively. The recovery efficiency of applied N, P, K, Zn and B was found to be 35.48, 5.7, 32.93, 0.06 and 0.06%, respectively. Owing to native nutrient supplying capacity of the soil at the research site, N, P, K, Zn and B required to obtain the target yield of 5 t/ha was found 139.5 kg N/ha, 45.22 kg P/ha, 50.8 kg K/ha, 12.1 kg Zn/ha and 2.6 kg B/ha, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The experiment was conducted during kharif 2011 in sandy clay loam soil at Zonal Agricultural Research Station, UAS, GKVK campus, Bengaluru, Karnataka to study yield attributes, nutrient uptake and yield of maize (Zea mays L.) hybrid NAH 1137 (Hema) and economics of maize cultivation as influenced by nutrient management through various fertilization approaches. The investigation consisted SSNM through fertilizers for targeted yield of 8 and 10 t ha-1, SSNM through INM for targeted yield of 8 and 10 t ha-1, STCR through fertilizers for targeted yield of 8 and 10 t ha-1, STCR through INM for targeted yield of 8 and 10 t ha-1. These eight treatments were compared with 100 per cent RDF and100 per cent RDF + FYM @ 10 t ha-1, and were replicated thrice. Among the treatments, SSNM through fertilizers for targeted yield of 10 t ha-1 recorded higher dry matter production (501.4 g), cob length (20.3 cm), number of grain rows cob-1 (20.5), number of grains row-1 (41.3), number of grains plant-1 (891.2) test weight (32.9 g) and significantly higher grain yield (9.77 t ha-1) as compared to other treatments. Whereas, significantly lower cob length (16.5 cm) number of grain rows cob-1 (13.6), number of grains row-1 (31.4), number of grains plant-1 (426.7) test weight (21.4 g), Grain yield (4.04 t ha-1) were recorded in the treatment with the application of 100 % RDF. Significantly higher nutrient uptake (504.8, 103.1 and 212.3 N, P and K kg ha-1) was recorded in SSNM through fertilizers for targeted yield of 10 t ha-1 over 100 % RDF (219.4, 32.2 and 73; N, P and K kg ha-1) and economics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crop modelling can provide us with a vast amount of real-time information about fertilizer dose to achieve the target yield, crop conditions, etc. Nutrient-use efficiency in wheat is low because of conventional blanket and imbalanced fertilizer use. Estimation of fertilizer requirements based on quantitative approaches can assist in improving yields and nutrient-use efficiency. Field experiments were conducted in 20 sites in eastern India to assess the soil supply, requirement and internal efficiency of nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P), potassium (K) and zinc (Zn) in wheat. The data were used to calibrate the QUEFTS (QUantitative Evaluation of the Fertility of Tropical Soils) model for site-specific, balanced fertilizer recommendations. The parameters of maximum accumulation (a) and maximum dilution (d) in wheat were calculated for N (35 and 100 kg), P (129 and 738 kg), K (17 and 56 kg), and Zn (21502 and 140244 mg). Grain yield of wheat showed good correlation with N (R² = 0.937**), P (R² = 0.901**) and K uptake (R² = 0.801**). The NPK ratio to produce 1 ton grain yield of wheat was derived to be 4.9:1.0:8.9. The relationships between chemical properties and nutrient supplying capacity of soils were also established. The model was validated using the data of four other experiments. Observed yields with different amounts of N, P, K and Zn were in good agreement with the predicted values suggesting that the validated QUEFTS model can be used for site-specific nutrient management in wheat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]