Integrated nutrient management (INM) involves using organic manures, chemical fertilizers, legumes, and biofertilizers together to sustain soil health and productivity. The principles of INM are to return nutrients removed by crops to the soil, maintain soil physical conditions, maintain organic carbon levels, minimize abiotic stress, control soil erosion, and minimize soil quality issues. INM has advantages like enhancing nutrient availability, providing balanced nutrition, improving soil functioning, and reducing environmental impacts. Key components of INM include green manures, crop residues, organic manures, and biofertilizers. Cultural, physical, mechanical, and biological tools are used to implement INM.

1. Integrated Nutrient Management
(INM): Principles, Importance, Roles
and Applications

2. Content
• Integrated nutrient management
• Why INM
• Principles of INM
• Advantages of INM
• Component of INM
• Tools of INM
• Cultural method
– Organic manures
– FYM
– vermicompost
• Physical method
– Addition of micronutrients
– Crop residues
• Mechanical method
– Tillage
– Change in cropping pattern
• Conclusion

3. Why Integrated Nutrient Management?
Integrated nutrient management envisages the use of chemical
fertilizers in conjunction with organic manures, legumes in
cropping system, biofertilizers and other locally available nutrient
sources for sustaining soil health and productivity. In other words
we can say that INM is the appropriate combination of organic
manures, inorganic chemical fertilizers, and biofertilizers for
optimum economic yield.
What is Integrated Nutrient Management?
 To increase crop yield and quality
 Increasing farm income and profitability.
 Correction of inherent soil nutrient deficiencies.
 Improving lasting soil fertility.
 Avoiding/minimizing damage to the environment.
 Restoring fertility and productivity of land that has been degraded by
faulty management practices.

5. Ill effects of chemical fertilizers
 Soil Fertility declined, formation of sick soil.
 Deficiency of macro/micronutrient.
 Low agricultural production.
 Heavy metal pollution.
 Nitrite/nitrate toxicities in ground water.
 Poor soil microbial population, loss in OM.
 Eutrophication, Global Warming.
 N2O emission (GHG), Ozone depletion, Acid rain.
 Increase in soil acidity.
 Imbalance use, adverse impact of Law of Minimum.

6. Principles of INM
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Six basic principles of sustainable INM system laid out by Dennis
Greenland include :
i. Nutrients removed by crop must be returned to the soil.
ii. Soil physical conditions should be maintained and upgraded.
iii. Organic carbon levels of soils should be maintained and enhanced.
iv. Build-up of abiotic stress should be minimal.
v. Degradation of land occurring due to soil erosion must be controlled.
vi. Soil quality with respect to soil acidity, salinity and toxic elements build-
up must be minimized.

7. Advantages of INM
• Enhance the availability of applied as well as native soil nutrient.
• Synchronizes the nutrient demand with the native supply from native and applied sources.
• Provide balanced nutrition to the crops.
• Improves and sustain the Physical, Biological and Chemical functioning of the soil.
• Minimize the deterioration of soil, water and ecosystem by promoting carbon sequestration.
• Reducing nutrient losses to ground surface water bodies and atmosphere.
• Minimize the antagonistic effects resulting from hidden deficiency and nutrient imbalance.
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8. Components of
INM
Integration of soil fertility restoring
crops like green manures,
legumes etc.
Recycling of crop residues
Use of organic manures like FYM,
compost, vermicompost, biogas,
slurry, poultry manure, bio-compost,
press mud cake, phosphocompost
Utilization of bio fertilizers
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Tools of INM
Cultural Physical Mechanical Biological Legislative
4R plant nutrition
manual by
international plant
nutrition institute
Azotobacter
inoculants
Rhizobium culture
Blue-green algae
Azolla
Biogas and biogas
slurry
Addition of
micronutrients
 cover crop
Inclusion of
legumes crop
Change in cropping
pattern such as crop
rotation, mixed
cropping
Farm waste like
paddy straw, wheat
straw
Tillage
Organic manures
Compost
Vermicompost
Green
manures
Crop residue
FYM

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Organic
manures
Bulky organic
manures
FYM Compost Vermicompost
Concentrated
organic
manures
Edible oil
cakes
Non-edible
cakes
Non –
vegetarian
sources

12. Organic inputs N (%) P(%) K(%) OC (%)
Vermicompost 1.63 1.26 0.34 12.01
Compost 1.87 1.18 0.23 24.48
Groundnut Cake 3.71 0.86 0.69 40.78
Mustard Oil Cake 5.21 1.38 0.65 41.39
Rice Bran 3.54 0.78 0.65 37.46
Bone Meal 6.56 1.08 1.17 -
Kusum Cake 3.11 1.71 0.49 -
Til Cake 3.33 0.55 0.22 35.51
Karanj Cake 3.86 0.62 0.41 43.87
Neem Cake 1.40 0.22 0.99 43.36
Nutrient content of some important organic manures
(Dry weight basis)

13. Organic manures
• Mainly prepared from animal dung/urine and plant residues.
• The organic sources can help to increase overall nutrient supply for agricultural crops and also to
increase the soil organic matter content which performs different functions at its different stages of
decomposition.
• Build-up in soil organic matter, i.e. humus , produced due to an application of organic manures
improves the physical properties of the soil.
• Organic manures like FYM , compost, vermicompost, green manures, are important inputs for
maintaining soil fertility and ensuring yield stability.
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14. Farmyard manure
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• FYM refers to the decomposed mixture of dung and urine of farm animals along with litter
and left over material from roughages or fodder fed to the cattle.
• On an average well decomposed farmyard manure contains 0.5%N, 0.2 P2O5, 0.5% K2O.
• Vegetable crops like potato, tomato, sweet-potato, carrot, onion etc., respond well to the
farmyard manure. The other responsive crops are Sugarcane, rice, Napier grass and orchard
crops like oranges, mango and plantation crop like coconut.
• The entire amount of FYM is not available immediately. About 30%N, 60-70% P and 70% K
are available for the first crop.

15. Vermicompost
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• Vermicomposting is, in fact, the process in which earthworms feed on waste organic
substances, convert them into compost by passing them through their digestive system
and excrete them in a granular form called vermicasts.
• Thus , vermicompost is a mixture of vermicasts or faccal excretions and organic matter
including humus, live earthworms, their cocoons and other organisms.
• The nutrient present in vermicasts are readily soluble in water for the uptake of plants.
• Organic wastes such as kitchen waste, city waste, swage waste etc., can also be utilized
in vermicomposting.
• It also contains hormones like auxins and cytokines, enzymes, vitamins and useful micro-
organisms like bacteria, actinomycetes, protozoa, fungi and others.

16. Compost
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• Organic manures prepared mainly from plant residues(leaves , stalks, twigs, barks etc) with
small quantities of animal waste product like dung and urine are termed composts, and the
process of making compost is known as composting.
• On a average, compost contains 1.01% N, 0.5% P2O5, and 0.8-0.9% K2O.
• During the composting process, some organic matter is transferred into humic substance.
Which are relatively resistant to microbial decomposition. Thus, composting helps to
maintain or increase soil organic matter content.
• Improves the texture, permeability and water holding capacity of the soil.

17. Green manuring as component of INM
Types of green Manuring:
 Green Manuring In situ
 Green Leaf Manuring
Benefits of green manuring:
 Add organic matter to the soil
 Fix atmospheric nitrogen (legumes)
 Add nutrient to the soil
 Provide shade to new plant
 Conserve soil moisture
Crotalaria
Note: Green manuring has been discussed in detail in green manuring
lecture note

18. Green manures
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• Green manure is the cheapest way to fertilize the cereal crops where sufficient quality of
FYM or compost is not available.
• The practice of ploughing or intermittently adding un-decomposed green plant material into
the soil for the purpose of improving the physical condition and fertility of the soil is called
green manuring and the manure obtained by this method is known as green manure.
• The crop mainly used for green manuring are
a) Non-leguminous crops such as mustard, wheat, maize, jowar, carrot
b) Leguminous crops such as cowpea, green gram, sunn hemp, cluster bean
• They increase the availability of nutrients like P, Ca, K, Mg & Fe, the decomposing organic
matter liberates CO2 , leading to lowering of soil pH, especially of calcareeous, saline and
sodic soils, which helps in solubilization of these nutrients.

19. Crop residues
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Crop residues, another
important component
of nay country, are
good sources of plant
nutrients. A large
amount of crop residue
is annually produced in
India.
In areas where
mechanical harvesting
has been adopted, a
sizable quality of crop
residues in left in the
field which can be
recycled for nutrient
supply.
The annual production
of crop residues in the
country has been
estimated in the range
of 270-300 million
tonnes.
About one third of the
crop residues are
available for direct
recycling, amounting
to 136.4 million
tonnes, and if used
can add 3.54million
tonnes of N, P2O5 &
K2O annually.

20. Addition of micronutrients
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• The most common method of micronutrient application for crops is soil application.
Recommended application rates usually are less than 10lb/acre, so uniform application of
micronutrient sources separately in the field is difficult.
• Therefore both granular and fluid NPK fertilizers are commonly used as a carriers of
micronutrients. Including micronutrients with mixed fertilizer is a convenient method of
application, and allows more uniform distribution with conventional application equipment.
• Costs are also reduced by eliminating a separate application.
• Four methods of applying micronutrients with mixed fertilizer are :
– Incorporation with granular fertilizers
– Bulk blending with granular fertilizers
– Coating onto granular fertilizers
– Mixed with fluid fertilizers

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22. Cover cropping
• Important parts of every organic farmer’s management
scheme.
• They are crucial to the main goal soil building soil health and
protecting soil erosion.
• Non- leguminous cover crops, typically grasses or small
grains, do not fix nitrogen but can be effective in recovering
mineralized nitrogen from soil after crops are harvested.
• When legume or grass cover crops are incorporated into the
soil, living microorganisms in the soil go to work to
decompose plant residues.
• The biomass nitrogen is mineralized and converted first to
ammonium and then to nitrate compounds that plant roots
can take up and use.
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24. Tillage
• Producers traditionally have depended on tillage to mix immobile
nutrients such as phosphorus with the soil, thus moving them into the
primary rooting zone of crops.
• Conservation tillage system often increases surface residue and limit
incorporation and mixing of organic matter and nutrients, resulting in
reduced soil erosion, accumulation of organic matter near the soil
surface.
• Nutrients usually stratified in conservation tillage systems because of the
lack of substantial mechanical soil mixing.
• Nutrients levels tend to be higher near the soil surface where the
nutrients are applied and where crop residue decay.
• This may help in unlocking the locked nutrients in soil organic matter and
may be beneficial in improving soil nutrients availability and crop uptake.
• Tillage operations reduce soil compaction, improves aeration, and create
a better environment for soil microorganisms.
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25. Changing cropping pattern
• In certain areas, farmers grow crop after crop in the same field. The field is never left
uncultivated or fallow. The continuous growing of crops makes the soil poorer in certain
nutrients. This results in the fall of the yield of the crop.
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Crop rotation
Mixed
cropping
intercropping

26. Factors affecting optimum
fertilizer dose
Soil pH
Initial soil
fertility
Soil texture Soil erosion
Sowing period
Variety of crop
Use of organic
manure
Cropping intensity
& plant density
Rainfall &
distribution
Previous crop
raised

27. Profitable use of fertilizers
For the most profitable use of fertilizers, the following
common questions should be answered.
1. How much fertilizer to use? i. e. right amount
2. What kind of fertilizer to use? i. e. right type of
fertilizers
3. How to apply fertilizer? i. e. the right place
4. When to apply? i. e. right time
Source: Yawalkar et al, (2002)

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31. Constraint in adopting INM
• Organic manures have small amounts of nutrient content so large amounts are required to
fulfill the nutrient needs of various crops, which is not possible for India with more than one
billion population to feed.
• Handling of bulky organic manures involves high cost of transportation.
• Increasing competitive value of crop residue as animal feed affects recycling of agricultural
wastes.
• Extra cost and time are required in raising green manure crops.
• Marketing of bio-fertilizers become difficult because the product contains living organisms.
• There is a lack of suitable carrier material such as peat having longer shelf life.
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32. Conclusion
• INM is a practice which optimizes the performance of plants
through augmentations of chemical and biological properties of
soil.
• Adopting INM practices in trees can help in boosting the
biomass productivity per unit area.
• Effective utilization of a combination of biofertlizers, organic &
inorganic fertilizers not only improves and maintains the soil
fertility but also increased germination parameters, growth and
quality parameters of seedlings in nursery and plantation.
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33. Reference
• Integrated Nutrient Management In A Sustainable Rice-wheat
Cropping System By Anil Maahajan & R.D.Gupta
• Agricultural Transformation- A Roadmap To New India By R.B.
Singh
• A.K., Anurag and Triphati, R.S.(2007) Integrated nutrient
management in transplanted hybrid rice (Oryza sativa) .Indian
Journal of Agronomy52(1)40-42
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