Soil Fertility and Nutrient management (1+1)

I. Nutrient deficiency symptoms of plants

• It is a qualitative measurement of availability of plant nutrients. It is the visual method of evaluating soil fertility and diagnosing the malady affecting the plant. An abnormal appearance of the growing plant may be caused by a deficiency of one or more nutrient elements. The appearance of deficiency symptoms on plants has been commonly used as an index of soil fertility evaluation.
• If a plant is lacking in a particular element, more or less characteristics symptoms may appear. This visual method of soil fertility evaluation is very simple, not expensive and does not require elaborate equipments but it becomes difficult to judge the deficiency symptoms if many nutrients are involved. In such cases it requires experienced person to make proper judgment.
• The common deficiency symptoms are

  1. Complete crop failure at seedling stage
  2. Retarded/stunted growth
  3. Abnormal color pattern. E.g.: Chlorosis (yellowing), necrosis (dying of tissue)
  4. Malformation of different plant parts. E.g.: rosette appearance of leaves
  5. Delayed maturity
  6. Poor quality of crops like low protein, oil, starch content, keeping/ storage quality reduced.
  7. Internal abnormality like Hidden hunger (It is a situation in which a crop needs more of a given element, yet has been shown no deficiency symptoms).