Water soluble fertilizers in horticultural crops— An appraisal

Abstract

Horticultural crops have now attained a status, parallel to not only field crops, but stake strong claim of offering nutritional security, thereby, cutting the unnecessary load on consumption of cereals. However, raising productivity of horticultural crops is still a constraint. One of the prime reasons is the abysmal use of fertilizers, hardly 10% of total fertilizer use is diverted towards the share of horticultural crops. Of different fertilizers, liquid fertilizers are again a special class of fertilizers, hold very strong promise in protected cultivation, hydroponic/aeroponic or even open field hydroponic for perennial fruit crops. The liquid fertilizers, as special class of fertilizers provide an enormous possibility of tailoring nutrient use across critical growth stages, a pre-requisite for better nutrient-use-efficiency. Customized fertilization/fertigation is another potential reality, besides its suitability in site specific nutrient managements. In this background, these issues have been addressed in this review.

Growth response of mustard greens (Brassica juncea L.) to nutrient formulations in hydroponic media

“…These differences in nutrient characteristics influence the absorption of nutrients by plant roots [19]. Liquid fertilizer can be adapted to all growth stages, but what needs to be considered is better nutrient use efficiency [20]. The concentration of nutrients in fertilizer is usually expressed in N, P2O5, K2O, etc.…”

“…Therefore, it is very important to achieve high nutrient use efficiency and reduce fertilizer requirements by up to 25%. The higher the nutrient concentration level of AB mix, the higher the nutrient content [20]. Providing nutrients will speed up the rate of leaf formation, because the plant's need for nutrients, especially N, in the vegetative formation phase has been fulfilled.…”

Effect of Foliar Application of Water-Soluble Fertilizers on Growth and Yield of Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

“…Foliar application gets around some of the drawbacks of soil fertilization, such as leaching, precipitation of insoluble fertilizer's, antagonistic relationships between specific nutrients, heterogeneous soils unsuited to low dosages, and fixation/absorption reactions, such as those involving phosphorus and potassium [1]. Not all fertilizers can be used as foliar sprays, but only those with a low salt index, high solubility, and high purity can be used in this way [2]. For foliar application, liquid fertilizers are a preferable source [3].…”