In this article, the objectives of integrated nutrient management are focused to highlight the benefits and need of an integrated nutrient management approach to develop a sustainable agriculture sector.
Integrated nutrient management is defined as a soil preserving technique, using fewer doses of organic and inorganic fertilizers along with common soil micro-organisms.
This technique is used to preserve and effectively use soil nutrients for high yields. The major goal of this technique is to increase crop productivity without losing natural soil nutrients and reducing the environmental pollution.
Objectives of Integrated Nutrient Management
There are several environmental benefits that can be achieved using integrated nutrient management. 16 main objectives of integrated nutrient management are:
- Maintain economic yield
- Reduce environmental pollution
- Integrate soil fertility restoring crops and livestock
- Crop residue recycling
- Improve nutrient cycling
- Promote the use of organic manure
- Application of bio-fertilizers
- Development and introduction of better-quality genotypes
- Promote balanced use of fertilizers
- Prevent environment degradation
- Improve rain-water management to avoid soil and nutrient erosion
- Introduction of conservation farming practices: tillage, agroforestry, and crop rotation
- Promote nutrient restoration
- Improve soil physical properties
- Enhance soil production efficiency
- Inspiring farmers to adapt less environment harming techniques
Integrated nutrient management is an effective technique to transform uncultivable marginal lands into arable productive lands and execute environment restoring strategic programs.
In recent research, A 3-year field experiment on Cane was performed to analyze the effects of organic and inorganic fertilizers on crop plants, soil, and the environment. The used organic matter was a mixture of press mud, green and farmyard manure; and inorganic material was urea, MOP, TSP, zinc sulphate, and gypsum. This study showed an increase in yield and improved cane juice-quality in fields using organic matter (25% inorganic fertilizer reduced with farmyard manure) during the first two ratoons.
To achieve the 2nd sustainable development goal, a precise and balanced crop nutrient (organic and inorganic fertilizer) application is the fundamental condition for organic farming. Agricultural productivity and the environment highly depend on the application of soil and crop-specific nutrition. For this purpose, ecologists and agronomists collectively planned these effective objectives of integrated nutrient management.
Second Sustainable Development Goal: It includes improved food security and nutrition, hunger eradication, and promotion of sustainable agriculture. It aims to maximize plant productivity and reduce nutrient loss during several steps of agricultural practices.
