160
D. L. N. Rao et al.
minimum 2% each shall be required (with at least 0.5% organic N). In view of the
various developments discussed in the foregoing sections, some improved nutrient
management scenarios can be envisaged as below:
• Going beyond nutrient use efficiency in precision agriculture for making fertilizer
recommendations which also take care of soil health aspect as given in examples
in previous section.
• Improve INM by precise application of chemical fertilizers along with use of
microbial inoculants e.g., Rhizobium inoculation of legumes and plant growth
promoting bacteria for cereals.
• Since INM involves the use of chemical fertilizers, the produce cannot be
termed ‘Organic’. However, if nutrient sources are delivered purely in organomineral forms through a combination of manures and minerals or mineral-fortified
enriched manures, it will be an ultimate win-win solution.
• Organo-mineral precision fertilization (OM-PF) strategies will need studies on
kinetics of nutrient release in various soil types, cropping systems and climatic
zones. Soil testing protocols need to be developed to assess bio-available organic
nutrient pools in the long term. OM-PF has a potential to provide solutions that
integrate the benefits of all fertilization strategies, while achieving improved soil
health and produce quality and environmental safety.
• Breeding to produce plant varieties with improved root proliferation and root
architecture as a short-term goal along with metabolic engineering to improve
response of plants to applied nitrogen and nutrient use efficiency would pave the
way for a reduction in fertilizer N usage.
6 Conclusions and Perspective
• It is widely believed that the benefits of precision agriculture can only be realized on large farms with huge capital investments and experience with information technologies. However, inexpensive and easy-to-use hand-held devices and
techniques are being developed for wider use by all farmers.
• Conventional methods of soil testing are time-consuming. Preferably fast, noncontacting and non-destructive methods should be available to obtain the required
information on soil available nutrients that can be fed easily into systems to
recommend fertilizer applications.
• Assessment of the nitrogen content, biomass, and nitrogen uptake of plants
by contactless optical measurements is a promising technique for site specific
management decisions of farmers.
• Integrated nutrient management (INM) can be further improved by addition of the
chemical fertilizers by precision management approach and microbial inoculants
to improve biological nitrogen fixation, bio-available nutrients and soil health.
• Soil test-based recommendations provide a scientific basis for balanced nutrition
not only between the applied nutrients themselves but also with the soil available
nutrients. However, constraint analysis with respect to biological and physical
D. L. N. Rao et al.
minimum 2% each shall be required (with at least 0.5% organic N). In view of the
various developments discussed in the foregoing sections, some improved nutrient
management scenarios can be envisaged as below:
• Going beyond nutrient use efficiency in precision agriculture for making fertilizer
recommendations which also take care of soil health aspect as given in examples
in previous section.
• Improve INM by precise application of chemical fertilizers along with use of
microbial inoculants e.g., Rhizobium inoculation of legumes and plant growth
promoting bacteria for cereals.
• Since INM involves the use of chemical fertilizers, the produce cannot be
termed ‘Organic’. However, if nutrient sources are delivered purely in organomineral forms through a combination of manures and minerals or mineral-fortified
enriched manures, it will be an ultimate win-win solution.
• Organo-mineral precision fertilization (OM-PF) strategies will need studies on
kinetics of nutrient release in various soil types, cropping systems and climatic
zones. Soil testing protocols need to be developed to assess bio-available organic
nutrient pools in the long term. OM-PF has a potential to provide solutions that
integrate the benefits of all fertilization strategies, while achieving improved soil
health and produce quality and environmental safety.
• Breeding to produce plant varieties with improved root proliferation and root
architecture as a short-term goal along with metabolic engineering to improve
response of plants to applied nitrogen and nutrient use efficiency would pave the
way for a reduction in fertilizer N usage.
6 Conclusions and Perspective
• It is widely believed that the benefits of precision agriculture can only be realized on large farms with huge capital investments and experience with information technologies. However, inexpensive and easy-to-use hand-held devices and
techniques are being developed for wider use by all farmers.
• Conventional methods of soil testing are time-consuming. Preferably fast, noncontacting and non-destructive methods should be available to obtain the required
information on soil available nutrients that can be fed easily into systems to
recommend fertilizer applications.
• Assessment of the nitrogen content, biomass, and nitrogen uptake of plants
by contactless optical measurements is a promising technique for site specific
management decisions of farmers.
• Integrated nutrient management (INM) can be further improved by addition of the
chemical fertilizers by precision management approach and microbial inoculants
to improve biological nitrogen fixation, bio-available nutrients and soil health.
• Soil test-based recommendations provide a scientific basis for balanced nutrition
not only between the applied nutrients themselves but also with the soil available
nutrients. However, constraint analysis with respect to biological and physical