AGROBIOS NEWSLETTER
Rhodospirillum, cyanobacteria, etc. Examples of
symbiotic nitrogen fixers are Rhizobium (in the
root nodules of legumes) and Frankia (in the
root nodules of non-leguminous plants), etc.
Symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation
A species of bacteria called Rhizobium, help in
nitrogen fixation. These bacteria live in the roots
of leguminous plants (e.g., pea and beans plants)
and using certain types of enzymes, they help in
fixing nitrogen in the soil. During this biological
process, they convert the non-absorbable
nitrogen form into a usable form. This form of
nitrogen gets dissolved in the soil, and plants
absorb the modified nitrogen from the soil. This
is the reason behind farmers implementing
crop rotation, where leguminous plants help to
replenish nitrogen content in the soil without the
necessity of fertilizers.
Legume Root Nodules
Nitrogen fixation by bacteria is an example
of the symbiotic relationship between Rhizobium
and leguminous plants. While bacteria fix
nitrogen in the soil, plants provide them food.
4. Soil Health Card: A Tool to Soil
Management
RAGINI PATIL, GEETHA G P, DEEPA KALAPPANAVAR, AND ROOPA K
MUTTAPPANAVAR
SRF, REWARD Project, Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, University
of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad-580005
The Soil Health Card (SHC) Scheme was
introduced by the Ministry of Agriculture,
Government of India on 19th February 2015 at
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Publishing Date || 01 JULY 2023
Nitrogen Fixation by Lightning
Another process that helps in nitrogen fixation is
lightning. It is a natural phenomenon where the
energy of lightning breaks and converts the non-
absorbable form of nitrogen into a usable form.
Even though the contribution of lightning in the
nitrogen fixation is small, they save plants from
the deficiency of essential elements.
Natural Phenomenon -Lightning
Nitrogen oxides, e.g., NO, N2O and NO2 are
also produced in the atmosphere by industrial
processes, automobile exhausts, power stations
and forest fires.
Nitrogen-fixing organisms which can be free
as well as symbiotic are:
Plants cannot use atmospheric nitrogen. Some of
the nitrogen-fixing bacteria convert atmospheric
nitrogen into ammonia making it available to
plants. Anabaena is a free-living nitrogen-fixing
bacteria. These entities are also known to form
a symbiotic relationship with the plants such as
mosquito fern. Existing as plankton, these are
known to form symbiotic associations with the
Azolla, aquatic fern. Consequently, these are
symbiotic bacteria too.
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Suratgarh, Rajasthan. The scheme has been
introduced to assist State Governments to
issue soil health cards to all farmers in the

Publishing Date || 01 JULY 2023
country. Soil health card provides information
to farmers on nutrient status of their soil along
with recommendation on appropriate dosage of
nutrients to be applied for improving soil health
and its fertility. 2015 marked the International
Year of Soils; that same year, the innovative
initiative
SHC is a printed report and contains the status
of farmer’s soil with respect to 12 parameters,
namely N, P, K (Primary macronutrients); S
(Secondary macronutrient); Zn, Fe, Cu, Mn,
Bo (Micronutrients); and pH, EC, OC (Physical
parameters). Based on the status of soil, the
SHC will also recommend fertilizer and soil
amendment requirement for the farm. SHC will
be issued to farmers every 3 years to enable
the farmers to apply recommended doses
of nutrients based on soil test values to realize
improved and sustainable soil health and fertility,
low costs and higher profits. Farmers can take a
printout of the SHC from the SHC portal, which
has a database of all harvesting seasons and is
available in 21 languages.
FIG. 1: Soil Health Card - Workflow
Need of Soil Health Card Scheme
 Indian soils are working with negative
nutrient balance to the tune of 12-14 million
tons per year and the negative balance is
likely to increase in future even after using
the full potential of the fertilizer industry.
 The Nutrient deficiency in India is in the order
of: 95, 94, 48, 25, 41, 20, 14, 8 and 6 % for N, P,
K, S, Zn, B, Fe, Mn and Cu respectively.
 The limiting nutrients do not allow the full
expression of other nutrients, lowering the
fertilizer response and crop productivity.
 17 || VOL. NO. XXII, ISSUE NO. 02
AGROBIOS NEWSLETTER
 The farmers in India do not know which types
of crops they should grow to get maximum
yield. Check out the detailed information on
High Yield Crops in India on the given link.
 Basically, they do not know the quality and
the type of their soil. Read about Types of
Soil in India on the linked page.
 They might know by experience what crops
grow and what crops fail. But are unaware
of what they can do to improve the condition
of the soil.
Objectives of the Soil Health Card Scheme
 To strengthen functioning of Soil Testing
Laboratories (STLs) through capacity
building, involvement of agriculture students
and effective linkage with Indian Council
of Agricultural Research (ICAR) / State
Agricultural Universities (SAUs)
 To diagnose soil fertility related constraints
with standardized procedures for sampling
uniformly across states and analysis
and design taluka / block level fertilizer
recommendations in targeted districts
 To develop and promote soil test based
nutrient management in the districts for
enhancing nutrient use efficiency
 To provide financial assistance to farmers to
apply corrective measures for deficiencies
and popularizing balance and integrated
nutrient management practices for their
cropping systems
 To build capacities of district and state level
staff and of progressive farmers for promotion
of nutrient management practices
Benefits of Soil Health Card Scheme
 This scheme provides a card that allows the
farmer to identify the soil type in his farm
area
 Farmers can increase the crop yield based
on features of the scheme
 If farmers know the type of soil in their land,
it will be easier for them to plant crops based
on the quality of the soil, resulting in better
farming and more earnings
 The farmers will receive all information on
their farm’s soil via the Mudra Health Card
 This strategy aimed to increase farmers’
revenue while also improving the soil’s base
and balance through applying fertilisers.
 This strategy can also provide increased
agricultural production at a cheaper cost
 This card also informs farmers about how
much nutrients are present in the soil and
 AGROBIOS NEWSLETTER Publishing Date || 01 JULY 2023

for which crop, how much fertiliser should
be used, and which fertiliser should be used
Farmers’ output will also grow due to the
Soil Health Card Scheme
Challenges with Soil Health Card Scheme
 Inadequate soil testing infrastructure
 Microbial activity and moisture retention are
essential but are missing in the Soil Health
Card
 Many farmers are unable to understand
the content, thus unable to follow the
recommended practices
 Some important indicators such as cropping
history, water resources or moisture of soil,
slope, depth, color and texture of soil etc. are
not included
 Lack of Coordination among agricultural
extension officers and farmers
 Number of soil samples per unit area is
between scheme officials not based on soil
variability
 Language barriers between scheme officials
and farmers

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5. Importance of Soil Profile to Crop

Production
GEETHA, G. P., DEEPA KALAPPANAVAR., ROOPA K
MUTTAPPANAVAR., AND RAGINI PATIL
SRF, REWARD Project, Dept. of Soil Science and Agril. Chemistry, UAS, Dharwad

A vertical section of the soil through all its layers plant or animal matter cannot be recognized
and extending into the parent rock is known as through naked eye.
soil profile. A soil profile is divided into layers
called horizons. The main soil horizons are A,
B, C and D. A soil profile is a historic record of
all the soil forming processes and forms the
unit of study in pedological investigation. It also
helps in soil classification and forms the basis for
practical studies of soils. A study of the soil profile
is important from crop husbandry point of view,
since it reveals the surface and the subsurface
characteristics and qualities, namely depth,
texture, structure, drainage conditions and soil-
moisture relationships, which directly affect
plant growth. It helps to classify the soils and to
understand soil-moisture-plant relationships. O
horizon is called as organic horizon. It is formed
in the upper part of the mineral soil, dominated
by fresh or partly decomposed organic materials.
This horizon contains more than 30% organic
matter if mineral fraction has more than 50 % clay
(or) more than 20 % organic matter if mineral
fraction has less clay. The organic horizons are Most important for plant growth, the A and
commonly seen in forest areas and generally B horizons are the top two layers of the soil. The
absent in grassland, cultivated soils. A horizon is where there is most soil life and is
 O1 – Organic horizon in which the original sometimes called topsoil. Depending on the soil,
forms of the plant and animal residues can the A horizon can be further divided into A1, A2
be recognized through naked eye. or Ao (organic). The surface soil or that layer of
soil at the top which is liable to leaching and
 O2 – Organic horizon in which the original
from which some soil constituents have been

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