Nutrient management for pulses – A review

Nutrient imbalance is one of the major abiotic constraints limiting productivity of pulses. The inbuilt mechanism of biological N₂ fixation enable pulse crops to meet 80–90 per cent of their nitrogen requirements, hence a small dose of 15–25 kg N/ha is sufficient to meet out the requirement of most of the pulse crops. However, in emerging cropping systems like Rice - Chickpea, a higher dose of N (30–40 kg/ha) had shown beneficial effect - Phosphorus deficiency in soils is wide spread and most of the pulse crops have shown good response to 20–60 kg P₂O₅/ha depending upon nutrient status of soil, cropping system and moisture availability. Response to potassium application is location specific. In the recent years, use of sulphur (20–30 kg/ha) and some of the micronutrients such as Zn, B, Mo and Fe have improved productivity of pulse crops considerably in many pockets. B and placement of phosphatic fertilizers and use of bio-fertilizers enhance the efficiency of applied as well as native P. Foliar nutrition of some micronutrients proved quite effective. The amount and mode of appiication is determined by indigenous nutrient supply, moisture availability and genotypes. Balanced nutrition is indispensable for achieving higher productivity. At the same time, in view of increasing nutrients demand, there is immense need to exploit the alternate source of nutrients viz., organic materials and bio-fertilizers to sustain the productivity with more environment friendly nutrient management systems. The environmental issues and other hazards emerging out of the imbalanced use of nutrients should also be addressed properly.