Soil fertility and productivity

Essential nutrient elements, criteria of essentiality and their classification.

 Soil fertility and productivity

• Soil fertility: The ability of a soil to

supply the nutrients essential to plant
growth.
• Soil productivity: is a broad term , as
it refers to the capacity of a soil to
produce a certain yield of crop with
optimum management.
 Plant Nutrients

Definition: plant nutrient is defined as an element in the absence of which a plant cannot
complete its vegetative and reproductive life cycle and an adequate supply of which is
essential for optimum plant growth.
Out of 109 elements of periodic table, there are twenty one (21) elements are included in the
group of essential plant elements. These essential elements are also referred as Essential
Plant Nutrients (EPN).
Criteria:
• The element is directly involve in nutrition of plants , apart from its role for correction of soil
or addition of bacteria.
• The deficiency of an essential element makes it impossible for plant to complete its normal
vegetative and reproductive growth.
• The deficiency symptoms of an essential elements can be corrected or disappeared by the
addition of that element to plant system.
 Classification of essential plant nutrients
These are categorized in Two main groups:
• Macronutrients or Major Nutrients or Major Elements.
• Micronutrients or Minor Nutrients or Minor Elements.
Macronutrients these are 9 in number and are required by plants in larger quantity.
Concentration of each of these in plants’ body is usually > 0.5 g kg-1
These are further categories in 3 groups
1.Principle elements
C, H & O are Principal Elements and about 90% of plant body is made up of these. The Principal
Elements are supplied to plants through water and air.
2.Primary elements
N, P, and K, are Primary Nutrients. These are supplied to plants through soil minerals and added
material i.e., Fertilizers and manures.
3.Secondary elements
Ca, Mg and S are termed as Secondary Nutrients and minerals of these are rarely limiting in the soil.
So these are seldom added to soil as fertilizers or manures.
 Micronutrients

• These are required by the plants in relatively smaller quantities

• Concentration of a micronutrient in plants body is usually < 0.5 g kg -1

• These are 12 in number and include B, Cl, Cu, Fe, Mn, Mo Zn, Ni, Co, Si,
Na, and V. Majority of micronutrients are supplied to plants from
secondary minerals in soil and in very few cases, these are supplied to
plants in the form of chemical fertilizer through foliage or soil.

Sometimes the term Trace Elements is wrongly used in synonymous to

Micronutrients. Actually Trace Elements refer to a group of elements which
are important for plants, even in very minute quantities. It includes all
micronutrients and some other elements having significant role in plants’
life, though not fulfill the criteria of essentiality e.g. Heavy Metals like Cd,
Ni, Cr, Pb, Hg and As)