Manures, Fertilizers, and Soil Fertility Management

The book begins with an exploration of the history of soil fertility and plant nutrition, presenting the evolution of scientific understanding in this field. Fundamental concepts such as essential and beneficial elements, criteria of essentiality, and the roles of essential plant nutrients are discussed, along with methods for identifying nutrient deficiencies through plant symptoms. A detailed examination of macroand micronutrientsincluding nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, secondary nutrients, and micronutrientsprovides a robust foundation for understanding their functions, dynamics, and management.A significant focus is placed on soil fertility evaluation, highlighting methods for assessing soil nutrient status through laboratory analysis and field diagnostics. The book also delves into fertilizer use efficiency and the methods and timing of fertilizer application, ensuring readers gain practical knowledge for optimizing nutrient uptake by crops.

To address the growing interest in sustainable agriculture, this book explores organic manures, chemical fertilizers and their classification, and nanofertilizers, with an emphasis on their properties, applications, and integration within modern nutrient management systems. The Fertilizer Control Order and the concept of Integrated Nutrient Management (INM) are also covered to ensure readers are acquainted with regulatory and sustainable practices. Additionally, the book discusses soil amendments, providing insights into improving soil structure and correcting soil pH for better crop performance.

Dr. R.K. Gupta: graduated in 1983,specializing in Soil Science for his Masterdegree in 1985 and earning his Ph. D as anin-service candidate in 1998 from PAU, Ludhiana. Dr Gupta started his professional career as an Assistant Soil Scientist in 1986 and waselevated to the position of Soil Chemist and then to Principal Soil Chemist in 2006 andretired as Head of the Department of Soil Science, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana.Dr. Gupta has made outstanding contributions to Integrated Nutrient Management bysubstantiating fertilizer requirements by working out N and P contributions from biogas-slurry, poultry manure, press mud, crop residues, and biochar in rice-wheat cropping systems.Much of his research was devoted to increasing fertilizer N use efficiency in rice, wheat, maize and cotton crops through neem-coated urea, optimization, and synchronization of Napplication with crop N demand using a leaf colour chart, SPAD meter and Green Seeker.

Dr Gupta developed indigenous technology for biochar manufacturing from rice residues asan alternative to farmers’ burning rice residue. This technology has been adopted by 5 KVKsin Punjab and 11 KVKs in Bihar and is now commercialized by the Punjab Agricultural University. His work on crop residue management in rice-wheat cropping systems, either byincorporating it into the soil or retaining it on the soil surface, helped in yield advantage andsaved 20 kg N ha-1 in wheat after three years over residue removal or burning. He developedmore than 45 practical recommendations for improving soil health, saving fertilizer use, andincreasing farmers’ profits. Besides, he has 100 original research articles, one review paper,four books, seven book chapters, four research bulletins, and 155 extension articles. He hashandled 14 national/international projects as PI/Co-PI. He has mentored 15 PG students as aMajor advisor. Under his guidance, All India ICAR coordinated a research project on STCRat PAU Ludhiana and was awarded Ch. Devi Lal ICAR award in 2010. He also received theFAI Golden Jubilee Award for Excellence for the best work done in Plant Nutrition in 2020and the Prof. Manjeet S. Chinnan Distinguished Professor Chair Award in 2022 by PAU, Ludhiana. He was also awarded an appreciation letter from the Department of Agriculture,Govt. of Bihar, for providing guidance and training in producing biochar from rice straw in2022. He is currently a Professor at Lovely Professional University, Jalandhar.

Dr. Sohan Singh Walia, Director-cum-Principal Agronomist, School of Organic Farming, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana has joined PAU as Assistant Professor (Agronomy) in 1995, elevated to the position of Principal Agronomist in 2010. He started organic farmingresearch as a pioneer work at PAU, Ludhiana as Ph.D. student (2001―04) and then workedon organic farming and integrated farming systems in All India Co-ordinated ResearchProject on Integrated Farming Systems and All India Network Project on Organic Farming.Dr Walia has to his credit more than 450 research and extension publications, nine books, tenteaching manuals, seven extension folders and 22 book chapters. He has handled 24 researchprojects and is currently handling five research projects. The chapter on organic farming andintegrated farming system in the package of practices was included during 2004-05 and 2017-18, respectively. Ninety-seven recommendations have been included in the package ofpractices for mass adoption by the Punjab Farmers especially, resource conservative croppingsystems, nine organic farming-based cropping systems and production technology ofcultivation of direct seeded rice. In addition, he was involved in technologies regarding theapplication of consortiums in sugarcane, turmeric, potato, onion, maize, and wheat crops;integrated nutrient management in maize/soybean, rice residue management for the massscale adoption under Punjab conditions. Developed Integrated Farming System ResearchModel comprising dairy, fishery, horticulture, vegetables, agro-forestry, vermicomposting.He has been involved in the teaching of 93 courses.Dr Walia has guided four Ph.D. and eleven M.Sc. students as major advisor. He has organized20 training programmes, delivered 62 invited lectures, 350 training lectures, and 52 TV andradio talks. He has attended ten international and 92 national conferences/seminars/workshops.

Dr Walia was appreciated for outstanding work on integrated (2007-2017) and organicfarming during QRT review (2012-2017). Recipient of Best organic farming centre award(2019) by ICAR; Dr M S Randhawa best book award (2017); Fellow, Indian EcologicalSociety (2016); Gold medal from Society of Recent Development in Agriculture atInternational Conference (2013); ISA Best Paper Award along with cash prize of Rs 5000/-from Indian Society of Agronomy (2011) for paper entitled, Alternate cropping systems torice-wheat for Punjab”; ISA P. S. Deshmukh Young Agronomist Award (2005) by IndianSociety of Agronomy; Fellow, Society of Environmental Sciences (2004). The AICRP onIntegrated Farming System, Ludhiana centre received the Best Centre Award (2014 and2022) from ICAR- Indian Institute of Farming Systems Research, Modipuram, Meerut. Received Dr. Gurbaksh Singh Gill Gold Medal, Merit Certificate for M.Sc. (Agronomy); S.S.Labh Singh Gold Medal and Merit Certificate for B.Sc. Agri. (Hons.). Dr Walia has acquiredadvance training in rice production systems from School of Agriculture, Food and Wine,University of Adelaide, South Australia.

Miss Tamanpreet Kaur: has completed her Masters from Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. She is working as Senior Research Fellow (2018–till date) under project entitled “All India Co-ordinated Research Project on Integrated Farming Systems” at School of Organic Farming, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. He holds a M.Sc. in Agriculture from Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. Her area of interest is on integrated farming systems. She has eight research papers, 13 extension articles, three booklet on integrated farming systems, and three book chapters.