NLS- Fertilizer Recommendation

Soil Test Based Fertilizer Recommendation System for a targeted yield in FCV Tobacco
Northern Light Soils Region.

The ICAR-NIRCA, Rajahmundry has developed a mobile application for online fertilizer recommendations based on Soil Test Crop Response. This application links fertilizer nutrient prescription equations specifically for FCV Tobacco in the Northern Light Soils (NLS) region.

Concept of STCR and Targeted Yield :
This approach is aiming at obtaining a basis for precise quantitative adjustment of fertilizer doses under varying soil test values and response conditions of the farmers and for a given targeted yield levels. The fertilizers are recommended based on the following criteria.
• Fertilizer recommendations based on regression analysis approach
• Recommendations for certain % of maximum yield

Advantages :
• Efficient and profitable site-specific fertilizer recommendation for increased crop production and for maintenance of soil fertility.
• Aims to provide balanced, efficient and profitable nutrient application rates for pre- set yield targets giving due consideration to basic fertility status of soil.

About STCR based Fertilizer Recommendation in FCV Tobacco :
FCV tobacco is a commercial crop grown in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka used for cigarettes. It is generally grown in light textured soils in Karnataka during Kharif and in Andhra Pradesh during Rabi. Nitrogen and Potassium are the major nutrients influencing the leaf quality. There was no soil test-based fertilizer recommendation to FCV tobacco only the region wise standard recommendation is being followed. Recent years it was found that there was a build up of Phosphorus in the soil. In some areas the availability of potassium is high. Use of high yielding varieties and hybrids require relatively high amounts of these nutrients. Balanced use of fertilizer's based on soil tests can reduce the phosphorus accumulation and excessive application of potassium in the form of sulphate of potash which is costly.
In order to rationalize the usage of phosphorus and potassium and to avoid the imbalance in nutrient application the STCR based fertilizer prescription equations were developed for desired yield targets in FCV tobacco under Northern Light Soils. Using this information, a mobile application was developed for global accessing of the information to provide online fertilizer recommendations.

The STCR-based fertilizer recommendation system mobile app is tailor-made software for FCV tobacco that was not available before. Farmers of a specific agro-climatic region can get fertilizer recommendations for their fields using soil test values for a desired yield target of FCV tobacco besides balanced nutrition and better soil health. FCV tobacco farmers have the option to select the desired yield target based on their field potential and generate reports through the mobile app hosted in google play store.
Execution of the App:

From the home screen of the app, the user has to give the input of NPK, organic carbon values along with selection of Yield target, FCV production zone and Auction platform name from the drop down menu followed by ‘Submit’ button.
Report will be generated with Nutrient Recommendations, Fertilizer Recommendation and other recommendations. The user is allowed to take the hardcopy of the report by selecting ‘PRINT’ option (or) modify the existing input values by selecting ‘EDIT’ option and close the report menu with ‘FINISH’ option.

Advantages:
● Farmers of a specific agro-climatic region can get the fertiliser recommendation for their fields using soil test values for a desired yield target of FCV tobacco
● Report of fertiliser recommendation can be generated online and same can be taken as a hard copy from any place