http://oar.icrisat.org/id/eprint/6843 2013-06-06T10:51:41Z info:eu-repo/semantics/descriptiveMetadata http://oar.icrisat.org/6843/ Improved crop productivity and rural livelihoods through balanced nutrition in the rainfed semi-arid tropics Wani, S P Chander, G Sahrawat, K L Dixit, S Venkateswarlu, B Food and Nutrition Agriculture-Farming, Production, Technology, Economics Diagnostic soil analysis in targeted clusters of eight districts in Andhra Pradesh revealed critical deficiencies of sulphur (61 to 98%), boron (23 to 98%) and zinc (45 to 85%) in addition to that of soil carbon (25 to 97%), and phosphorus (14 to 84%) which are apparently holding back the productivity potential. The soil test based application of sulphur, boron and zinc together increased productivity by 8 to 102% in cotton, groundnut, castor, sorghum, greengram, cowpea, chickpea and maize. Economic assessment reveal that per rupee invested as additional cost (` 1,400/- to ` 2,150/-) gave ` 1.6 to 28.5 in return. Residual benefits of balanced nutrition were observed during 4 succeeding seasons. Soil health improved in balanced nutrition plots, inspite of higher yields and nutrient removal. The results showed that balanced nutrition is the way forward to increase crop productivity through resilience building of production systems and improve farm based livelihoods in the SAT regions. International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics 2013 Monograph PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://oar.icrisat.org/6843/1/ImprovedCrop_RDS_2013.pdf Wani, S P and Chander, G and Sahrawat, K L and Dixit, S and Venkateswarlu, B (2013) Improved crop productivity and rural livelihoods through balanced nutrition in the rainfed semi-arid tropics. Monograph. International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, Patancheru, Andhra Pradesh, India. Resilient Dryland Systems Report no. 58. info:eu-repo/semantics/objectFile info:eu-repo/semantics/humanStartPage