crop nutrient removal analysis

1. Amount of nutrients removed by crop/plant
Presented by-
PANCHAAL BHATTACHARJEE
UHS16PGM713

2. What is “Crop Nutrient Removal”?
 Crop nutrient removal is defined as the
total amount of nutrients removed from the
field in the harvested portion of the crop
(e.g., fruit, berries, grains etc).
 The term crop nutrient removal should not
be confused with crop nutrient uptake, which
is defined as the total amount of nutrients
contained in the entire crop at maturity.
Introduction-

3. Crop nutrient
removal
Crop nutrient
uptake
Available nutrient
Fertilizer applied
Flow chart of nutrient movement-

4.  Crop nutrient removal is lower than crop
nutrient uptake because a significant percentage
of the nutrients taken up by a crop are returned
to the soil in the form of crop residues.
Nutrients remaining in crop residues are
subsequently available for uptake by crops
planted in the next season in case of annual
plants or for perennial as leaf manure.

5.  Studying nutrient removal by plants is one of
the methods used to develop fertility
recommendations.
Tests are designed to examine patterns of
nutrient removal in response to different levels
of fertilizer application.
Information on nutrient removal alone is not
adequate for making fertility recommendations
because it does not take into account the ability
of the soils to retain and supply nutrients.

6.  To determine the exact nutrition(fertilizer) requirements of
soil, soil fertility should be assessed.
 It will give us the idea about current fertility status of soil
along with the information regarding, required amount to be
used for reaching upto an optimum level of nutrients for
crop production.
Soil fertility can be assessed by-
 1.Visual nutrient deficiency symptoms
 2.Plant analysis
 3.Biological test involving- a. Higher plants
b. Microorganisms
 4.Soil analysis-Chemical soil tests

7. Nitrogen-
 Crop uptake of nitrogen is relatively inefficient and often
results in average nitrogen losses of 50 percent because of
leaching, volatilization, or denitrification.
Consequently, crop nutrient removal values reflect a
minimum amount of total nitrogen required because they do
not account for nitrogen losses.
•Research suggests, that legumes may be less efficient than
non-legume crops in recovering nitrogen applied as fertilizers.
As, legumes with active nitrogen-fixing bacteria do not need
additional sources of nitrogen. If fertilizer nitrogen is added to
a legume, bacterial production of nitrogen decreases.
Factors effecting crop nutrient removal- major nutients

8. Phosphorus
Phosphorus moves very slowly in mineral soils and thus tends
to build up over time when the amount of phosphorus added
in fertilizer.
The quantity of phosphorus available to plants is much
smaller than the total quantity of phosphorus in the soil.
 This available amount can be determined only through soil
tests.
 Much of the phosphorus added to soil is "fixed- P-Fixation"
by chemical reactions with iron, aluminum, and calcium and
becomes unavailable for uptake by crops

9. Potassium removal by crops under good growing conditions is
usually high, and is often three to four times that of phosphorus
and equal to that of nitrogen.
In many cases where levels of soluble potassium in the soil are
high, plants tend to take up more potassium than they need.
This is called luxury consumption because the excess
potassium does not increase yields.
 Potassium is also mobile in soils, depending on soil texture.
 Movement is greatest in course-textured sands, followed by fine
sands and then clay soils.
 Accumulation of potassium also depends upon soil texture. The
greatest accumulation generally occurs in clay soils, as its having
more ionic effinity followed by loam and coarse-textured sands.
Potassium

10. Depletion of calcium and magnesium reserves in
the soil by crop removal is rarely a problem in limed
soils because of the large quantity of these nutrients
that are present in liming materials.
 However, some crops, such as temperate crops,
pecanut may require more calcium as they can
remove more of it.
Calcium and Magnesium

11. Sulfur, just as nitrogen, is mobile in soils
and can be lost by leaching.
Leaching is greatest in coarse textured
soils under high rainfall conditions and least
in limed clay soils that are low in aluminum
and iron.
Sulfur

12. Micronutrients
Micronutrients are called "micro“ only because they are
needed in very small quantities by plants. Without them,
however, no plant could survive and function normally.
The micronutrients are involved in different plant processes
and can react differently in the soil.
Copper- Copper moves very little in soils and thus can
accumulate when application rates exceed utilization.
Copper is also held tightly by organic matter.
Zinc- As with copper, zinc is relatively immobile in soils
and tends to accumulate.

13. Manganese(Mn)- Manganese deficiency is generally
caused by a high soil pH but can also be induced by an
imbalance with other elements such as calcium,
magnesium, and ferrous iron.
Manganese availability in limed soils is decreased with
increasing levels of organic matter.
Boron- just as nitrogen and sulfur, it is also highly mobile
and is not readily retained by sandy surface soils. Because of
this mobility, boron must be added annually for crops
sensitive to boron deficiencies.
Removal of boron by crops is a reasonable estimate of need.
Leaching loss of boron is typically several times greater than
crop removal.
Boron fertilizer is required for grapes,cotton, peanuts,
reseeding clovers, and alfalfa, etc. often require boron
fertilization on sandy soils.

14. Deficiencies of molybdenum generally occur on acidic soils
that contain high levels of iron and aluminum oxides.
Estimates of molybdenum removal by crops may serve as a
general fertilization guide for micronutrients.
 However, availability of soil reserves of molybdenum to
the plant are largely regulated by soil pH.
Molybdenum-

15. Iron deficiency, which is not very common, is believed
to be caused by
 An imbalance of metallic ions, such as copper and
manganese
Excessive amounts of phosphorus in soils, and a
combination of high pH, high lime, cool temperatures
 High levels of carbonate in the root zone.
Iron-
Chlorine and Nickel- Only in coarse textured soil defficiencies
are found.

16. Contd.

18.  Analyzing crop samples for nutrient removal is different
than routine plant tissue analysis, which is used to monitor
the nutrient content of a crop or to identify nutrient
deficiency or toxicity.
For example, a subsample of the harvested grain/fruit that
is collected from the lot after yield determination is analyzed
for N content to quantify N removal at harvest.
 In contrast, plant analysis of ear leaf samples collected at
critical stages like initial silking is useful to monitor corn
nutrient content during the growing season.
Analyzing of crop samples for nutrient removal

19. For vegetable crops, the use of standard values for N content
may be preferable to harvested tissue analysis due to the
difficulty encountered when trying to dry vegetables instantly.
Because of their high water content, a freeze drier is often
required to prevent the vegetable samples from rotting during
drying.
Laboratory nutrient analysis reports usually provide
nutrient content of plant tissue samples on a dry weight
basis (i.e., units of nutrient per unit of dry plant tissue).
To determine crop N removal, these dry weight values
must be adjusted by accounting for the moisture content of
the crop.

20.  The following example illustrates how to determine crop N removal for corn
grain containing 1.45% N based on results of lab analysis:
This value corresponds to 1.45 (gm) N per 100 dry gm of corn grain.
Because this value is listed on a dry weight basis, it must be adjusted to
account for the moisture content of the crop.
 For corn grain, if we assume a moisture content of 15.5%, which is equivalent
to 84.5% dry matter or 0.845 gm dry corn grain per gm corn grain:
1.45 gm N/100 gm dry corn grain × 0.845 gm dry corn grain/ 1 gm corn grain
= 0.0123 gm N/gm corn grain.
 Crop N removal must then be adjusted (when applicable) based on the
standard test weight. The standard test weight(yield) for corn grain is 40t/ha :
0.0123 gm (0.0000123kg)N/ gm corn grain × 40t (40x1000Kg) corn grain/1 ha x
1000 = 492 kg N/ha.
Therefore, the actual nutrient removal for corn grain in this example would be
492 kg N/ha .

21. Different mordern software and mobile based apps-

27.  Effective nutrient management minimizes nutrient
losses to the environment while maximizing the crop
nutrient uptake.
 Valid numbers for all nutrient inputs and outputs are
required to most effectively manage nutrients in fruits
cultivation.