Meta-Analysis Approach to Measure the Effect of Integrated Nutrient Management on Crop Performance, Microbial Activity, and Carbon Stocks in Indian Soils

Cereal crop production gains under conventional agricultural systems in India have been declining in recent years because of inadequate management practices, creating a considerable concern. These activities were shown to deplete soil organic matter stocks, resulting in a decrease in microbial activity and soil organic carbon (SOC) content. Moreover, even with minimal use of organic sources in cultivated land, soil carbon status deteriorated, particularly in subtropical climates. Integrated nutrient management (INM), a modified farming method, has the potential to effectively utilize organic and inorganic resources, to improve the quality of soils and crops, and making farming more economically viable and sustainable. The aim of this study was to use meta-analysis to quantify the effects of INM on crop production, soil carbon, and microbial activity in Indian soils. During the years 1989–2018, data from various research studies in India, mainly on nutrient management in rice and wheat crops, were collected. Meta-Win 2.1 software was used to analyze the results, and significance was determined at p < 0.05. The results showed that the yield of rice and wheat was 1.4 and 4.9% more in INM than that in 100% NPK (N: nitrogen, P: phosphorous, and K: potassium), and that respective yields were comparatively higher in loamy soils (2.8%) and clayey soils (1.0%). The INM treatment increased SOC and microbial biomass carbon (MBC), resulting in improved overall soil quality. The SOC stock was increased by 23.8% in rice, 15.1% in wheat, 25.3% in loamy soils, and 14.4% in clayey soils in INM over 100% NPK. Microbial quotient (MQ) data showed significant trends between different management systems in both soil types, for example, INM > 100% NPK > No NPK. Due to more soil cracking and reduced aggregate stability in the rice field (greater short-term soil structural changes), the SOC stock loss in rice was higher than that in wheat. The CO2 equivalent emissions were 7.9 Mg ha−1 higher in no NPK (control) than in 100% NPK, and 16.4 Mg ha−1 higher in control than in INM. In other words, INM increased soil carbon sequestration by 2.3 Mg ha−1 as compared to using 100% NPK. Overall, the findings of this study show that INM could be a viable farming system mode in India for improving crop production, increasing soil carbon sequestration, and improving microbial activity while remaining economically and environmentally sustainable.

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Integrated Nutrient Management for Sustainable Crop Production in Potato-Sunflower Sequence

Journal of Sustainable Agriculture ◽

10.1300/j064v29n04_12 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 29 (4) ◽

pp. 173-188 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

S. S. Thind ◽

A. S. Sidhu ◽

N. K. Sekhon ◽

G. S. Hira

Keyword(s):

Crop Production ◽

Nutrient Management ◽

Integrated Nutrient Management ◽

Sustainable Crop Production

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Studies on Integrated Nutrient Management of Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata l.): A Review

International Journal of Environment and Climate Change ◽

10.9734/ijecc/2021/v11i1130526 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 148-154

Author(s):

Bimesh Dahal

Keyword(s):

Crop Production ◽

Management Practices ◽

Nutrient Management ◽

Chemical Properties ◽

Farming Systems ◽

Integrated Nutrient Management ◽

Yield Attributes ◽

The Status ◽

Physical Attributes ◽

Physical And Chemical

There are many management methods for nutrient which can be specifically applied in farming systems. Integrated nutrient management (INM) generally denotes the combined use of organic and chemical fertilizers for producing crops in a sustainable manner and to maintain soil fertility as well as to supply nutrient in appropriate amount which consider social, ecological and economic impacts. This paper shows the importance and need of INM in agriculture production. Also, the relation of INM and yield attributes are analyzed and evaluated including growth and physical attributes of cowpea. The status of nutrient uptake by plant is also described along with other physical and chemical properties of soil. Finally, this paper also describes about the biofertilizer and its relation, impact and effect on crop production which can be used as a improved technology with the combination of other nutrient management practices.

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Integrated Nutrient Management for Sustainable Crop Production and Improving Soil Health

Nutrient Dynamics for Sustainable Crop Production ◽

10.1007/978-981-13-8660-2_3 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 67-101 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Rajinder Singh Antil ◽

Dev Raj

Keyword(s):

Crop Production ◽

Nutrient Management ◽

Soil Health ◽

Integrated Nutrient Management ◽

Sustainable Crop Production

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Comparative Performance of Integrated Nutrient Management between Composted Agricultural Wastes, Chemical Fertilizers, and Biofertilizers in Improving Soil Quantitative and Qualitative Properties and Crop Yields under Arid Conditions

Agronomy ◽

10.3390/agronomy10101503 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (10) ◽

pp. 1503

Author(s):

Nasser Al-Suhaibani ◽

Mostafa Selim ◽

Ali Alderfasi ◽

Salah El-Hendawy

Keyword(s):

Crop Production ◽

Nutrient Management ◽

Crop Yields ◽

Principal Component ◽

Agricultural Wastes ◽

Integrated Nutrient Management ◽

Qualitative Properties ◽

Chemical Fertilizers ◽

Comparative Performance ◽

Arid Conditions

The primary goal of integrated nutrient management (INM) strategies is to substitute a portion of chemical fertilizers with a more sustainable and environmentally safe organic compost in order to mitigate soil degradation, improve crop production, and protect the environment. Therefore, the present study was conducted to assess the impacts of different INM practices, namely full-dose NPK (T1), compost of cow manure at 5 t ha−1 (T2), compost of poultry manure at 5 t ha−1 (T3), compost of mixed sheep and camel manure at 5 t ha−1 (T4), 50% NPK combined with the mixture of the three types of composts at the rate of 5 t ha−1 (T5) or 10 t ha−1 (T6), and mixture of the three types of composts at the rate of 10 t ha−1 (T7), 15 t ha−1 (T8), or 20 t ha−1 (T9) with or without biofertilizers for each treatment on several physiochemical and biological proprieties of soil and final grain yield of field crops after 2 years of field-scale experiments. The results showed that all INM practices generally significantly (p < 0.05) improved the initial values of all tested soil physiochemical and biological proprieties, whereas improvement was more prominent for the plots treated with T5–T9, compared with those treated with T1–T4. Seed inoculation with biofertilizers also significantly (p < 0.05) increased different soil proprieties by 2.8–12.0%, compared to that of the non-inoculation treatment. Principal component analysis revealed that most soil chemical properties were closely associated with T5–T6 treatments, while most soil physical and biological properties appeared to be more related to T7–T9 treatments. Our results indicated that recycling agricultural wastes into new productive composts and integrating it into appropriate INM practices as shown in T5–T9 treatments may induce favorable changes in soil properties and improve crop production under arid conditions even in the short term.

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New soil carbon sequestration with nitrogen enrichment: a meta-analysis

Plant and Soil ◽

10.1007/s11104-020-04617-x ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 454 (1-2) ◽

pp. 299-310 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Xiaomin Huang ◽

César Terrer ◽

Feike A. Dijkstra ◽

Bruce A. Hungate ◽

Weijian Zhang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Carbon Sequestration ◽

Soil Carbon ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Soil Carbon Sequestration ◽

Nitrogen Enrichment

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Manure and Mineral Fertilizer Effects on Crop Yield and Soil Carbon Sequestration: A Meta‐Analysis and Modeling Across China

Global Biogeochemical Cycles ◽

10.1029/2018gb005960 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 32 (11) ◽

pp. 1659-1672 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Guiying Jiang ◽

Wenju Zhang ◽

Minggang Xu ◽

Yakov Kuzyakov ◽

Xubo Zhang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Carbon Sequestration ◽

Soil Carbon ◽

Crop Yield ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Mineral Fertilizer ◽

Soil Carbon Sequestration

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Integrated Nutrient Management for Sustainable Crop Production

10.1201/9781439828465 ◽

2008 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Keyword(s):

Crop Production ◽

Nutrient Management ◽

Integrated Nutrient Management ◽

Sustainable Crop Production

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Integrated Nutrient Management in Rice–Wheat Cropping System: An Evidence on Sustainability in the Indian Subcontinent through Meta-Analysis

Agronomy ◽

10.3390/agronomy9020071 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

pp. 71 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Sheetal Sharma ◽

Rajeev Padbhushan ◽

Upendra Kumar

Keyword(s):

Grain Yield ◽

Organic Farming ◽

Nutrient Management ◽

Indian Subcontinent ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Cropping System ◽

Crop Productivity ◽

Integrated Nutrient Management ◽

Management Options ◽

The Impact

Over years of intensive cultivation and imbalanced fertilizer use, the soils of the Indiansubcontinent have become deficient in several nutrients and are impoverished in organic matter.Recently, this region has started emphasizing a shift from inorganic to organic farming to managesoil health. However, owing to the steadily increasing demands for food by the overgrowingpopulations of this region, a complete shift to an organic farming system is not possible. The rice–wheat cropping system (RWCS) is in crisis because of falling or static yields. The nations of thisregion have already recognized this problem and have modified farming systems towardintegrated nutrient management (INM) practices. The INM concept aims to design farmingsystems to ensure sustainability by improving soil health, while securing food for the populationby improving crop productivity. Therefore, this paper was synthesized to quantify the impact androle of INM in improving crop productivity and sustainability of the RWCS in the context of theIndian subcontinent through meta-analysis using 338 paired data during the period of 1989–2016.The meta-analysis of the whole data for rice and wheat showed a positive increase in the grainyield of both crops with the use of INM over inorganic fertilizers only (IORA), organic fertilizersonly (ORA), and control (no fertilizers; CO) treatments. The increase in grain yield was significantat p < 0.05 for rice in INM over ORA and CO treatments. For wheat, the increase in grain yield wassignificant at p < 0.05 in INM over IORA, ORA, and CO treatments. The yield differences in theINM treatment over IORA were 0.05 and 0.13 Mg ha−1, respectively, in rice and wheat crops. Thepercent yield increases in INM treatment over IORA, ORA, and CO treatments were 2.52, 29.2, and90.9, respectively, in loamy soil and 0.60, 24.9, and 93.7, respectively, in clayey soil. The net returnsincreased by 121% (INM vs. CO) in rice, and 9.34% (INM vs. IORA) and 127% (INM vs. CO) inwheat crop. Use of integrated nutrient management had a positive effect on soil properties ascompared to other nutrient management options. Overall, the yield gain and maintenance of soilhealth due to INM practices over other nutrient management practices in RWCS can be a viablenutrient management option in the Indian subcontinent.

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