Increasing population & ever growing consumption have made to over exploit natural resources. Continuous application of chemical fertilizers has resulted many hazardous effects. Fertilizer over the year not only reduced the average farm yield but also made crop more susceptible to pest and disease. Looking to the seriousness of these problems there is an urgent need to develop sustainable agriculture, which not only maintain the rate growth along with keeping the soil fertile and productive but also improve quality of product.
In the present investigation an experiment was conducted to study the effect of integrated plant nutrients (inorganic mineral fertilizer along with Biofertilizer) on (a) yield (b) quality of seed and (c) soil health.
Result of these studies indicates that continuous use of chemical fertilizer alone deteriorated the soil health while use of Rhizobium biofertilizer rejuvenates the soil. Judicious application of chemical fertilizer along with the biofertilizer increases the fertility of soil.
Integration of chemical fertilizer along with biofertilizer proved beneficial and economical as it saves about 50% of chemical fertilizer to be used otherwise besides maintenance of soil health.
Chemical fertilizer, Rhizobium biofertilizer, soybean, soil health, seed quality
