Modelling soil, plant and fertilizer relationship to optimize nutrient management for chilli (Capsicum annuum L) under Alfisols of Southern India

ABSTRACT

India is the largest producer, consumer and exporter of chilli, which covers 20% of the total area in Southern India. The imbalanced use of chemical fertilizers has detrimental effect on soil physico-chemical and biological properties thereby affecting soil and crop quality. In accordance with this concept, the field experiments were conducted to develop and validate fertilizer prescription equations for chilli crop under rainfed condition. The experiments were conducted in three phases. The basic parameters to develop the targeted yield equations were derived. Further, the developed targeted yield equations were validated in comparison with soil fertility rating approach and general recommended dose (GRD). The results revealed that 4.50, 1.76 and 2.95 kg of N, P₂O₅, and K₂O, respectively were required for producing 100 kg of dry chilli. The STCR approach, with or without FYM, at the targeted yield of 1.30 and 1.00 t ha⁻¹ enhanced the yield over GRD and soil fertility rating approach. The STCR approach also exhibited a higher NPK uptake, use efficiency, microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen, dehydrogenase, acid and alkaline phosphatase activity along with better profitability. Hence, STCR-targeted yield approach could improve the yield, nutrient use efficiency, soil microbial properties and economics of chilli crop.

KEYWORDS:

• Chilli
• soil test crop response
• nutrient uptake
• nutrient use efficiency

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability statement

The data that support this study will be shared upon reasonable request to the corresponding author.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/03650340.2023.2264210