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Non-symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation and Soil Fertility

OAR@ICRISAT

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Relation http://oar.icrisat.org/3891/
 
Title Non-symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation and Soil Fertility
 
Creator Dart, P J
Wani, S P
 
Subject Soil Science
Fertilizer Appications
 
Description Soils in the semi-arid tropics (SAn are low in nitrogen and yet they continue to
support most of the world's.milletsand sorghum production with virtually no
addition df fertiliser. Legumes seem to play only a small role in the maintenance
of soil fertility under the present management and cropping patterns. High
levels of N can accumulate in soil under certain fallows planted to grasses such
as Andropogon goyonus. Mineralisation mtes of 4 to 5% per,annum provide up
to 70 kg N I ha per annum as nitrate, some of which may leach to soil depths of I
to 2 m. Nitrogen removal in pearl millet or sorghum crops in such soils can beas
much as 150 kg N/ha, depending on the cultivar and the season. Since inputs
from other sources such as rainfall are small, the maintenance of equilibrium
levels of soil N depends on biological N2 fixation. Bacteria associated with the
root systems of sorghum, millets and some tropical grasses are involved, as well
as blue-green algal crusts.
 
Date 1982
 
Type Conference or Workshop Item
PeerReviewed
 
Format application/pdf
 
Language en
 
Rights —
 
Identifier http://oar.icrisat.org/3891/1/Non-symbiotic_nitrogen_fixation_PJD_SPW.pdf
Dart, P J and Wani, S P (1982) Non-symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation and Soil Fertility. In: Transactions of the 12th International Congress of Soil Science, 8‑16 Feb. 1982, New Delhi, India.