Nutrient Management

Food is necessary for our health, development, and growth. Like all other living things, plants need nutrition. Water, air, sunshine, and soil all contribute to these nutrients. Some nutrients, known as macronutrients, are needed by plants in vast quantities, while others, known as micronutrients, are needed in lesser amounts. While hydrogen is given by water, gases like carbon dioxide and oxygen are delivered by the air.

Thirteen more micronutrients and macronutrients are provided by the soil, including iron, copper, zinc, chloride, boron, and manganese (calcium, magnesium, potassium, nitrogen, phosphorus), and the 4Rs also play a very important role in nutrition management. The four R's are as follows: right source, right rate, right time, and right place.

What is Nutrient Management?

Utilising agricultural nutrients as effectively as possible helps to increase productivity while preserving the environment. Balancing soil nutrient inputs with crop needs is the fundamental idea behind nutrient management. Added nutrients can help increase crop yields when they are given in the appropriate amounts and at the right times; applying too little will reduce yield while applying too much is inefficient economically and may be harmful to the environment. Ineffectively used nutrients by crops may seep into surrounding surface waterways or leak into the groundwater. For instance, excessive nitrogen or phosporous can harm water quality.

Nutrient Management

INM Definition

Integrated nutrient management (INM) is a strategy that refers to the safest approach to getting rid of crop waste and making high-quality compost by balancing and integrating the usage of both organic and inorganic fertilisers in combination to maintain soil fertility and give plants the optimal quantity of nutrients they need throughout their life cycles to maintain yield productivity.

INM (Integrated Nutrition Management)

Integrated Nutrient Management

The application of chemical fertilisers and organic manures together for crop productivity is known as integrated nutrient management. The preservation of soil fertility and the provision of sufficient plant nutrients are its primary goals. It is socially, environmentally, and economically sound.

Explaining Nutrient Use Efficiency

The capacity of crops to absorb and use nutrients for optimal yields is demonstrated by the concept of nutrient usage efficiency (NUE). As a result, the NUE concept considers three crucial plant processes: nutrient absorption, assimilation, and use.

Components of Integrated Nutrient Management

The components of Integrated Nutrient Management are:

• Synthetic fertilisers

• Organic manures

• Crop rotation and intercropping

• Crop residue and organic wastes

• Biofertilisers

• Green manures

Components for INM

Nutrition Management Objectives

The four R's—right source, right rate, right time, and right place—serve as a road map for farmers to assist them to choose management techniques that help retain nutrients in the soil. The 4Rs' implementation aids in balancing the nutrient management process's economic, environmental, and social aspects.

Interesting Facts

• The 4R Nutrient Stewardship concept relates management practices—selection of nutrient source, rate, timing, and placement - to sustainability goals at all levels.

• A variety of preciseness ag tools support the 4Rs by serving farmers to exactly monitor and meet crops' nutrient needs, such as soil sensors, variable rate prescriptions, yield maps, decision support software, soil mapping, multispectral imaging, auto-guidance systems, and leaf colour charts.

Conclusion

It's a well-known fact that soil plays a major role in agriculture. The primary factor affecting the output and productivity of the crop is the soil's nutritional condition. The quantity of nutrients that a plant can absorb affects how much of a crop is produced. Even when the soil's nutritional status is good, a plant may occasionally be unable to absorb the needed nutrients because of a variety of other circumstances. Therefore, these elements need to be taken into account in integrated nutrition management. It is important to accurately trace the plant's nutrient flow in the soil and plant.