Integrated Soil Fertility Approach or Integrated Nutrient Management Approach……..It is roughly estimated that Chilies being grown under drip irrigation system will remove N (117.6kg/acre), P2O5 (29.2kg/acre), K2O (196kg/acre), CaO (69.2kg/acre, MgO (44.4kg/acre) per 40 tonne yield/acre. and it doesn’t mean that chilies don’t require Zinc, Boron, Sulfur, Iron etc……….
..they are equally important but @ small amount…….from above mentioned figures farmers can easily assess which mineral is required more & less for chilies and adjust fertilization scheduling accordingly. Now coming back to our local conditions in Pakistan…Normally chilies are being grown under furrow flood irrigation & on ridges except @ couple of places under drip irrigation….For Integrated Nutrient or soil fertility management approach it’s very important that soil analysis, leaf analysis, irrigation water analysis and compost analysis are very crucial…all will help making your fertilization program effective…..in vegetables FYM application is usually avoided due to it’s negative impacts on chilies, onions, tomatoes etc as perceived by the farmers…I hope that you have heard the word “Nutrient cycling” in which a process called “Immobilization” due to higher C:N ratio 100+:1 in the raw FYM Nitrogen usually get deficient from the soil as soil microbes consumed it only then become active on added raw FYM……and standing crop or crop being sown will both suffer the stress caused by nitrogen deficiency….besides, cellulose eater insects like termites etc can damage the roots, plant pathogens can join the party, weeds can grow as FYM contains seeds etc…….all these negatives with Raw Farm Yard Manure can cause the problems and an overall termed as “Burning”…so properly composted FYM with atleast minimum 30:1 C:N ratio & ideally 15 to 20:1 can cover all the risks associated with raw FYM and it’ll also supply minerals & organic carbon to soil. Not mentioning here how much a ton of compost will supply nutrients to soil or crop? This work has already been done by many in Pakistan so you can access this information from internet. Irrigation water also contains some minerals with each irrigation being supplied to soil & crop.
