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Credit seminar

Site-Specific Nutrient Management a

tool for Improving Nutrient-use
Efficiency
Manoj Kumar
M.Sc. Student
Id no.55459

Division of Agronomy
ICAR- Indian Agricultural Research Institute,
New Delhi 110 012

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 Outlines of seminar

® What is Site-Specific Nutrient Management

(SSNM)?
® Why SSNM?
® Soil fertility status and NUE
® Essential parameters for suggesting and practicing
SSNM
® Constraints for adoption of SSNM
® SSNM approaches and advances
® Research finding
® Conclusions
® Way Forward
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 Site-Specific Nutrient Management (SSNM)

Site-Specific Nutrient Management (SSNM) is the dynamic,

field-specific management of nutrients in a particular cropping
season to optimize the supply and demand of nutrients
according to their differences in cycling through soil-plant
systems.
(Dobermann and White, 1999)

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 Why SSNM….?

® Limited resources
® Increasing chemical
residues
® Growth and yield
® Soil health
® Nutrient management
® Efficient usage of cost

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 Key points of SSNM

1. Site-Specific Nutrient Management (SSNM) optimizes

the supply of soil nutrients over space and time to
match crop requirements.
2. SSNM increases crop productivity and improves
efficiency of fertilizer use.
3. SSNM mitigates greenhouse gases from agriculture
in areas with high nitrogen fertilizer use.
4. Incentives for adoption of SSNM depend strongly on
fertilizer prices.

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 Change in Area, Production and Yield of Food grains in
India over Past 7 Decades and Land Use

Average gross area

growth rate 0.05
times.
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Average production
growth rate 0.38
times and 2015-16
by 3.95 times.

Average productivity
growth rate 0.29 times and
2015-16 by 2.9 times

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 Indian projected population growth and
food demand
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Indian
population 1.5
billion by 2030

Indian food-grain demand 236.2 mt in 2010 to 272-277 mt in

2020 and 303 to 318 mt in 2030.
However, domestic food-grain supply will increase, 234 mt in
2010 to 278-283 in 2020 and 328-348 mt in 2030.
(IFPRI, 2019) 8
 Secondary and micronutrient deficiency in soils

P ercen t de ficien t sam ples

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40
40
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30
28

25

20
17.5

15
13 13

10

6
5 4.3

0
S Zn Fe Mn Cu B Mo

Shukla et al. (2015)

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 Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Indian
E m issio n (M t C O 2 e q . y r -1 )
Agriculture
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1%
9%

1% 6%
Fertilizer
160 Nitrous oxide from soil/fertilizer 6% Animal manure
Green manure
120 Compost
Crop residue
77% Soil mineralization
80

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® Since 1970 to 2013, the emission of nitrous oxide has almost

doubled.

Pathak et al. (2014, 2015) 10

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Steps for SSNM

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 Decision Support Systems / software
for SSNM
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 Nutrient Expert system

® Provides
recommendations for
diverse socio-economic
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• Prescriptions available to the farmers
quickly (available within 15 minutes)
• Minimizes risk to the farmers
• Ensures livelihood of increased profit
to the farmers
groups.
® Estimates fertilizer NPK
rates required for the
selected yield goal.
® Translates fertilizer rates
into available fertilizer
sources.
® Develops an application
strategy for fertilizers
(based on 4R principle).
® Compares costs and
benefits between the FFP
and NE.
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Source: http://cropmanager.irri.org/home 14
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® Grid sampling, guided by GPS, provides more accurate soil test data. 
® Variable rate fertilizer application can improve efficiency. 
® Variable rate seeding, variety changes and starter fertilizer can adjust for soil
properties and productivity. 
® Crop scouting with new digital technologies improves field records. 
® On-the-go yield monitors can quickly track variability in the field. 
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 Essential parameters for suggesting and
practicing SSNM
® Soil testing-nutrient supply potential.
® Productivity targets of crops and cropping.
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® Efficiency of nutrient sources fertilizers organic

nutrient sources like FYM, green manures etc.
® Composts, bio fertilizers, organic industrial wastes
and soil amendments.
® Nutrient efficient genotypes.
® Selection of suitable crops and cropping systems
involving N fixing crops and their management.
® Correction of soil and nutrient related problems. 16
 Constraints for adoption of SSNM
Technology and knowledge
requirements
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Availability of fertilizers

Variable economic benefit

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SSNM approaches

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 Plant analysis based approach
Selection of the Yield Goal

Assessment of Crop Nutrient Requirement

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Estimation of Indigenous Nutrient Supplies

Computation of Fertilizer Nutrient Rates

Dynamic Adjustment of N Rates using chlorophyll meter (popularly

known as SPAD) or leaf color chart (LCC)

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 LCC for N management
® LCC developed from a
Japanese prototype (Furuya
1987) was standardized
along with the Chl meter.
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® The LCC is made of high

impact plastic and consists
of six colour shades from
yellowish green (No. 1) to
dark green (No. 6) and the
holder is gray in colour.

® The leaf colour of youngest fully expanded leaf blade (leaf 1)

and two nearest leaves (2 and 3) are measured under the
same environmental conditions.
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 SPAD for N management
® The use of chlorophyll meter is
based on the fact that leaf
greenness is determined by N
concentration which in turn is
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correlated with yield.

® It displays 3- digit SPAD value
proportional to the amount of
chlorophyll present in the leaf by
measuring the transmittance of
leaf in two wavelengths (600-700
nm and 400-500 nm).
® It saved 20 kg N/ha in rice (Singh
et al. 1999).
® A SPAD value of 37.5 critical for N
application in rice

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 Green-seeker for N management
® The sensor uses light emitting diodes
(LED) to generate red (660 nm) and near
infrared (NIR) (780 nm) light.
® Spectral reflectance data used to compute
vegetative indices that related to
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photosynthetic activity and plant

productivity.

® The NDVI predicting photosynthetic

activity.
® GS can save 13-20% N.

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Research finding

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 Grain yield AEN and REN under three rice genotypes grown with
different N management options at Modipuram

Total N Grain AEN

REN
applied yield (kg grain/kg
N management treatment (%)
(kg/ha) (t/ha) N)
 
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Rice

  Cultivar: Basmati 370

No N-control 0 2.7 - -
LCC < 3, No basal N 20 3.2 26.7 69
LCC < 4, No basal N 80 4.3 20.7 58
LCC < 5, No basal N 100 4.1 15.2 52
Recommended N 80 3.7 14.5 49
  Cultivar: Hybrid PHB 71
No N-control 0 3.8 - -
LCC < 3, No basal N 90 6.6 30.9 59
LCC < 4, No basal N 135 7.6 28.1 57
LCC < 5, No basal N 165 8.1 25.9 54
Recommended N 150 6.9 20.7 44

(Shukla et al. 2004) 25

 Grain yield AEN and REN under wheat genotypes grown
with different N management options at Modipuram
Total N AEN
Grain yield REN
N management treatment
applied (kg
(t/ha) (%)
  (kg/ha) grain/kg N)
Wheat
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  Cultivar: PBW-343 (Timely sown)

No N-control 0 2.1 - -
LCC < 3, No basal N 60 4.2 34.3 71.6
LCC < 4, No basal N 120 5.7 29.7 63.3
LCC < 5, No basal N 160 6.1 24.0 55.6
Recommended N 120 5.2 25.0 52.5
  Cultivar: PBW 226 (late sown)
No N-control 0 1.8 - -
LCC < 3, No basal N 90 4.1 25.5 54.4
LCC < 4, No basal N 120 4.5 22.7 52.5
LCC < 5, No basal N 160 4.8 18.8 45.6
Recommended N 120 4.1 19.1 44.2

(Shukla et al. 2004) 26

 Management of nitrogen through the use SPAD
in irrigated wheat
Treatments Grain yield AE RE (%) PFP
(t/ha) (kg grain/ kg N) (kg grain/ kg
N)
0-N
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2.17f - - -
120 kg/ha -N 4.43e 18.89e 38.06f 36.97
150 kg/ha- N 4.62d 16.33f 47.83c 30.80
SPAD (35), no basal N 4.85c 34.57a 42.53e 62.57
SPAD (35), basal @20
kg N /ha 4.95b 33.69b 50.59ab 59.99

SPAD (37),
no basal N 4.95b 30.05d 45.50d 53.51

SPAD (35), basal @20

kg N /ha 5.17a 32.42c 49.81b 55.88

(Maiti and Das, 2006) 27

 Effect of SSNM on yield and N use
efficiency in irrigated wheat

Particulars SSNM FFP

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Grain yield (t/ha) 4.7 4.2

AEN (kg grain/kg N) 13.6 8.3

REN (%) 27.0 17.0

PFPN (kg grain /kg N) 37.1 29.4

(Khurana et al. 2008) 28

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Benefits of SSNM

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 Annual productivity and economics of rice-
wheat system under SSNM vs. other options
Annual productivity (t/ha)

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18

Sa 70000
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FFP SR SSNM
Pala... 60000
SSNM FFP
Ra
50000
R.S. ...
40000
Ludh...

Faiz... 30000

Ka
20000

Modip...
10000
Vara...

0
Pantn...
Modipuram Faizabad Kanpur

Tiwari et al. (2006) 30

 SSNM increased grain yield, Water use
efficiency and monetary return
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(Jat et al. 2018)

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 Yield and monetary benefits of SSNM in cropping
systems
Sugarcane yield (t/ha)
Sugar mill SSNM SSNM SR FP Net returns over FFP (Rs./ha)
jurisdiction -K 0 10000 20000 30000 40000
(Meerut, UP)
SSNM 35856
Sakoti 133 123 104 95
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TY+ M 31556
Daurala 110 92 100 92
TY 26558
Mawana 139 132 116 83
Kinouni 126 105 87 86 SR+K 25775

Mohiuddinpu 104 84 91 74 SR 12586

r
FFP+K 6885
Average 122.4 107.1 99.5 85.9

SSNM FFP

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 Effect of SSNM on maize grain yield, AEN, fertilizer NPK use,
revenue, cost for fertilizer, gross return over seed

Particulars SSNM FFP

Maize grain yield (Mg/ha) 8.32 7.17

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Agronomic efficiency of N
25.1 16.4
(kg grain/kg N)

Fertilizer N (kg/ha) 151.0 167.0

Fertilizer P(kg/ha) 36.0 31.0

Fertilizer K (kg/ha) 79.0 64.0

Revenue (US $/ha) 1480.0 1275.0

Fertilizer cost (US $/ha) 258.4 244.8

(Pasuquin, 2010) 33
 Green house gas mitigation in rice-wheat
system with leaf colour chart
16000
14000
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12000
GWP ( kg CO2/ha)

10000
8000
6000
4000
2000
0
Control Conventional LCC≤4 LCC≤5
Treatments

LCC based urea application can reduce GWP of a rice–wheat system by

10.5%
(Bhatia et al. 2012) 34
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Where can SSNM be implemented?

SSNM Precision farming

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 Conclusions

® The SSNM is need-based feeding of crops with

nutrients while recognizing the inherent spatial
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variability which enhances crop productivity,

profitability, NUE and avoids nutrient wastage .

® SSNM may provide a win–win option for the

farmers for real-time nutrient management to
reduce GHG emission and optimize nutrient
application with crop demand.

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 Way Forward

® Emphasis on fertilizer product research to develop

and validate sustained release/smart fertilizers
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® Strengthening of soil testing services, tools and

protocols
® Increased investment in farm mechanization for
smallholders and custom hiring services
® Emphasis on development, validation and
refinement of SSNM and DSS
® Policy support to facilitate and incentivize PNM
technologies

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 Division of Agronomy

Thank you

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