Integrated Phosphorus Management in Chickpea (Cicer Arietinum L) : Effect of organic and inorganic P sources on chickpea

With increasing demand of agricultural production, phosphorus (P) is receiving more attention as an important growth and yield deciding factor especially for the pulses. Crop intensification coupled with adoption of high yielding varieties is aggravating the problem, which can be alleviated by applying large quantities of phosphatic fertilisers. Applications of chemical P fertilizers to agricultural land have improved soil P fertility and crop production, but caused environmental damage in the past decades. Moreover, high cost of phosphatic fertilisers, fixation of major portion of added P into slowly available and/or unavailable forms in soils necessitates exploring other possibilities to increase P availability. To substitute the inorganic P completely by organic manures or biofertilisers is not practically feasible. Hence, the better option would be to integrate the use of inorganic P, organic manures and PSB to modify the rhizosphere of the crops for maximising the yields, use efficiency of P, thereby increasing net returns