Nitrogen (N) is the most critical externally added input for any crop production system. The half of the global population directly or indirectly depends on nitrogenous fertilizers for food supply. Today, Rice, wheat, and maize are consuming more than 90% of total nitrogenous fertilizer used in cereals. Underuse of nitrogen is associated with lower crop production while overuse leads to several soil and environmental related consequences. Therefore, response to applied nitrogen and its use efficiency have to be monitored properly for obtaining the maximum potential and sustainable yield. Efficiency of applied nitrogenous fertilizers is very low due to its various losses i.e. volatilization, leaching, surface runoff and denitrification from soil-plant system. Therefore, the proper understanding of advanced soil and plant management practices which helps in enhancement of nitrogen recovery efficiency is one of the key factors to enhance crop output, decreasing cost of cultivation, and to maintain environmental quality which ultimately adds towards the goal of achieving long term sustainable production system. In this review, an attempt has been made summarize the locally as well as scientific soil and crop management technologies used for improving use efficiency of applied N. This paper also discusses nitrogen cycling in soil-plant systems, various N losses pathways, present status and most possible management options at the farm level for enhancing nitrogen use in crop production system.
Phosphorus (P) is second largest limiting element for plant growth. The phosphate rock which is used in the manufacture of P fertilizers is nonrenewable resource. We have to address to future shortages for sustainable crop production in India. At global level, India ranks as second largest wheat producing nation and contributing approximately 11.9% to the world wheat production from about 12% of global area (USDA 2010). One of the major constraints in boosting up the wheat production is the unbalanced use of plant nutrients, particularly P and K. Average P uptake of wheat is about 3.8 kg P/t of grains (Timsina and Connor 2001). P recovery by wheat from fertilizers is quite low i.e. 15-20% of the applied P is recovered by wheat while the remaining P is fixed as insoluble P fractions in soils (Rodríguez and Fraga 1999). Only 0.1% of the total P exists in a soluble form available for plant uptake because of its fixation into an unavailable form. Increasing prices of P-fertilizers in developing countries like India and high fixation of P in soil have led to the search for sustainable way of P nutrition of crops. In this regards phosphate-solubilizing microorganisms (PSM) have been seen as the best eco-friendly means for P nutrition of crops.A number of bacteria (Bacillus spp., Pseudomonas spp., Burkholderia spp.) and fungi (Aspergillus spp., Penicillium spp.) are known to increase availability of P to plants and benefit plant growth either by mineralization of organic phosphate or by solubilisation of insoluble inorganic phosphates in soils through the production of organic acids (Rodríguez and Fraga 1999, Saber et al. 2009, Saxena et al. 2014 ABSTRACTPhosphorus (P) availability limits crop growth in most of cultivable soils in north-west India. The beneficial rhizosphere microorganisms such as phosphate-solubilising fungi (PSF) were found to increase P availability in soil and improve crop yields. In view of this, field experiments were conducted during 2009-2011 to evaluate the effect of seed inoculation with PSF (Penicillium bilaii) at different rates of fertilizer P on P content in leaves and grain yield of irrigated wheat in India. The soil was low in Olsen P at the Bathinda site and medium at the Ludhiana site. In no-P treatment, PSF significantly increased grain yield by 12.6% over non-inoculated control. The effect of PSF on grain yield was generally more pronounced in a soil with low Olsen-P compared to medium Olsen-P level. Inoculation of PSF along with 50% P fertilizer increased wheat yield equivalent to 100% P with no PSF. Spike density was significantly higher in PSF + 50% P than all the other treatments. There is need to study a long-term effect of Penicillium bilaii on P-fertilizer saving in wheat on soils varying in P availability, pH and P fixation capacity for different wheat-based cropping systems.
Objective This work was designed as undertaken to evaluate the protective effect of Arsenicum album 30C against COVID-19. Design The work was designed as a prospective parallel cluster cohort study. Intervention Participants were enrolled in a homeopathy intervention (HI) cohort (who received Arsenicum album) or in a non-intervention (NI) cohort (who received no systematic intervention) from COVID-19 containment areas of Delhi. Individuals of age 5 years or above were given four medicated pills of Arsenicum album 30C, while those from 1 to 5 years old were given two medicated pills in each dose. Results The analysis included 10,180 individuals residing in 11 COVID-19 containment areas in Delhi, out of which 6,590 individuals were in the HI cohort and 3,590 individuals were in the NI cohort. The overall protective effect of Arsenicum album 30C was 83.43% (95% confidence interval [CI], 76.77 to 88.17): 45 cases per 6,590 (8.34 per 10,000 person-weeks) in the Arsenicum album 30C group versus 143 cases per 3,590 (45.01 per 10,000 person-weeks) in the NI cohort. The protective effect of Arsenicum album 30C against laboratory confirmed COVID-19 was 74.40% (95% CI, 55.08 to 85.41): 18 cases per 6,590 (3.32 per 10,000 person-weeks) in the Arsenicum album 30C group versus 38 cases per 3,590 (11.85 per 10,000 person-weeks) in the NI cohort. Conclusion The use of Arsenicum album 30C was associated with some protection against probable and laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 in a containment-zone setting. Randomized controlled trials are needed to confirm or refute these results.
Conservation agriculture (CA)-based practices have been promoted and recouped, as they hold the potential to enhance farm profits besides a consistent improvement in soil properties. A 7 years' field experiment consisting of three crop establishment practices viz., zero-till flatbed (ZTFB), permanent beds (PNB), conventional system (CT) along with the three-nutrient management; nutrient expert-based application (NE), recommended fertilization (RDF), and farmers’ fertilizer practice (FFP), was carried out from 2013 to 2020. The CA-based practices (ZTFB/PNB) produced 13.9–17.6% greater maize grain-equivalent yield (MGEY) compared to the CT, while NE and RDF had 10.7–20% greater MGEY than the FFP. PNB and ZTFB gave 28.8% and 24% additional net returns than CT, while NE and RDF had 22.8% and 17.4% greater returns, respectively over FFP. PNB and ZTFB had 2.3–4.1% (0.0–0.20 m soil layers) lower bulk density than the CT. Furthermore, microbial biomass carbon (MBC) increased by 8–19% (0.0–0.50 m soil layers) in ZTFB/PNB over the CT, and by 7.6–11.0% in NE/RDF over FFP. Hence, CA-based crop establishment coupled with the NE or RDF could enhance the yields, farm profits, soil properties of the maize–chickpea rotation, thereby, could sustain production in the long run.
The present study was conducted to evaluation of production potential of different forage crops commonly gown by farmers. The experiment was carried out in randomized complete block design with eight treatments and three replications at research farm of Agronomy Section, ICAR-NDRI, Karnal (Haryana). Among eight treatments, two perennial forage crops napier bajra hybrid(NBH), guinea grass cultivated sole as well as intercropping with cowpea and four seasonal fodder crops (cowpea, sorghum, baby corn and maize) were tested for their physio-morphological, biomass yield responses and economic efficiency. Experimental results showed that among the different forage crops significantly highest green as well as dry fodder yield were revealed from NBH intercropped with cowpea 63.79 and 11.95 t/ha green biomass fodder yield (GBY) and dry fodder yield respectively;which were found at par with sole NBH treatment (60.69and11.68 t/ha GBY and DFY). Amongs the different forage crops lowest GBY and DFY 33.1and 5.68 t/ha was produced by baby corn and cowpea respectively. The magnitude of the yield advantage was observed maximum and in the tune of 20.69% with guinea intercropped with cowpea against sole guinea. Highest net return was obtained from dual purpose baby corn (¹ 1.60 lakh/ha) with B: C ratio (5.26) and economic efficiency (¹ 2471/ha/day), followed by in NBH intercropped with cowpea. Based on the study, it is clearly indicated that dual purpose baby corn followed by NBH + cowpea intercropping could be feasible option for increasing the overall productivity of dairy farmers in Indo-Gangetic plains and elsewhere similar conditions prevails.
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