title: Budgeting of major nutrients and the mitigation options for nutrient mining in semi-arid tropical agro-ecosystem of Tamil Nadu, India using NUTMON model.
abstract: Mining of nutrients from soil is a major problem in developing countries causing soil degradation and threaten long-term food production. The present study attempts to apply NUTrient MONitoring (NUTMON) model for carrying out nutrient budgeting to assess the stocks and flows of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) in defined geographical unit based on the inputs, viz., mineral fertilizers, manures, atmospheric deposition, and sedimentation, and outputs, viz., harvested crop produces, residues, leaching, denitrification, and erosion losses. The study area covers Coimbatore and Erode Districts, which are potential agricultural areas in western agro-ecological zone of Tamil Nadu, India. The calculated nutrient balances for both the districts at district scale, using NUTMON methodology, were negative for nitrogen (N -3.3 and -10.1 kg ha(-1)) and potassium (K -58.6 and -9.8 kg ha(-1)) and positive for phosphorus (P +14.5 and 20.5 kg ha(-1)). Soil nutrient pool has to adjust the negative balance of N and K; there will be an expected mining of nutrient from the soil reserve. A strategy was attempted for deriving the fertilizer recommendation using Decision Support System for Integrated Fertilizer Recommendation (DSSIFER) to offset the mining in selected farms. The results showed that when DSSIFER recommended fertilizers are applied to crops, the nutrient balance was positive. NUTMON-Toolbox with DSSIFER would serve the purpose on enhancing soil fertility, productivity, and sustainability. The management options to mitigate nutrient mining with an integrated system approach are also discussed.
authors.affiliation: Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, 641 003, India. u.surendran@gmail.com.|Centre for Water Resource Development and Management (CWRDM), Calicut, Kerala, India. u.surendran@gmail.com.
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Surendran
authors.affiliation: Regional Remote Sensing Centre, ISRO, Bengaluru, Karnataka, 560 037, India.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rama Subramoniam
authors.affiliation: ICAR-Central Arid Zone Research Institute, Jodhpur, Rajasthan,, 342 003, India.|ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Research Centre, Udhagamandalam, Tamil Nadu,, 643 004, India.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Raja
authors.affiliation: AED, Agricultural College and Research Institute, Madurai, India.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, 641 003, India.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Murugappan
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture / Q000379:methods; D018556:Crops, Agricultural; D017753:Ecosystem; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D005308:Fertilizers; D007194:India; D008372:Manure; D008906:Mining; D008956:Models, Chemical; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000032:analysis*; D010758:Phosphorus / Q000032:analysis*; D012987:Soil; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis; D014877:Water Pollution, Chemical / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
chemical_list: D005308:Fertilizers; D008372:Manure; D012987:Soil; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D010758:Phosphorus; D009584:Nitrogen
keywords: Alfisols; DSSIFER; Fertilizers; Inputs; Manures; NUTMON; Nutrient balance; Outputs; Vertisols