Soil fertility is the ability of soil to sustain plant growth and optimize crop yield. This can be enhanced through organic and inorganic fertilizers to the soil. Nuclear techniques provide data that enhances soil fertility and crop production while minimizing the environmental impact.

Advancing food security and environmental sustainability in farming systems requires an integrated soil fertility management approach that maximizes crop production while minimizing the mining of soil nutrient reserves and the degradation of the physical and chemical properties of soil that can lead to land degradation, including soil erosion. Such soil fertility management practices include the use of fertilizers, organic inputs, crop rotation with legumes and the use of improved germplasm, combined with the knowledge on how to adapt these practices to local conditions.

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The Joint FAO/IAEA Division assists Member States in developing and adopting nuclear-based technologies for improving soil fertility practices, thereby supporting the intensification of crop production and the preservation of natural resources.

An integrated soil fertility management aims at maximizing the efficiency of the agronomic use of nutrients and improving crop productivity. This can be achieved through the use of grain legumes, which enhance soil fertility through biological nitrogen fixation, and the application of chemical fertilizers.

Whether grown as pulses for grain, as green manure, as pastures or as the tree components of agro-forestry systems, a key value of leguminous crops lies in their ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen, which helps reduce the use of commercial nitrogen fertilizer and enhances soil fertility. Nitrogen-fixing legumes are the basis for sustainable farming systems that incorporate integrated nutrient management. Use of nitrogen-15 lends understanding of the dynamics and interactions between various pools in agricultural systems, including nitrogen fixation by legumes and utilization of soil and fertilizer nitrogen by crops, both in sole and mixed cropping systems.

Soil fertility can be further improved by incorporating cover crops that add organic matter to the soil, which leads to improved soil structure and promotes a healthy, fertile soil; by using green manure or growing legumes to fix nitrogen from the air through the process of biological nitrogen fixation; by micro-dose fertilizer applications, to replenish losses through plant uptake and other processes; and by minimizing losses through leaching below the crop rooting zone by improved water and nutrient application.

The isotopes of nitrogen-15 and phosphorous-32 are used to trace the movements of labelled nitrogen and phosphorous fertilizers in soils, crops and water, providing quantitative data on the efficiency of use, movement, residual effects and transformation of these fertilizers. Such information is valuable in the design of improved fertilizer application strategies. The nitrogen-15 isotopic technique is also used to quantify the amount of nitrogen fixed from the atmosphere through biological nitrogen fixation by leguminous crops.

The carbon-13 isotope signature helps quantify crop residue incorporation for soil stabilization and fertility enhancement. This technique can also assess the effects of conservation measures, such as crop residue incorporation on soil moisture and soil quality. This information allows the identification of the origin and relative contribution of different types of crops to soil organic matter.

Wise farmers and ranchers care for the soil because they know that man is dependent on the top 6 inches (15.2 centimeters) of soil. In the plant-animal-soil continuum, soil is often neglected because it does not indicate stress in an obvious way. Animals and plants show physical symptoms but the soil must be looked at more carefully to monitor good health.

Soil that is rich in nutrients is fertile. The expectation of growing plants as food for livestock must include the reality that plants will take nutrients out of the soil. Replacing nutrients is the basic goal of fertilization.

Soils feed the plants which in turn feed the animals that feed us. Soil provides the support or foundation for plants and most of the nutrients. Soil is accumulated decomposing plant and animal matter with aging parent material. As the soil components break down, elements are released and become available to plants as nutrients. However, this process takes a long time and the soil will only be a result of the parent material, climate, those living organisms once living there, topography, and time. So what is made available to a plant at a certain time may not be exactly what a growing plant needs. Fertilization is supplementing the existing soil with additional, needed nutrients. Fertilizing wisely increases yield, quality, and profit.

Plant growth requires a compatible relationship between the plant, the atmosphere, and the soil. The soil provides support and nutrients for plant growth. The air provides CO2 for photosynthesis and N2 for nitrogen fixing plants. Over 50 different factors enter into the relationship of plants, atmosphere, and soil. Some cannot be easily modified, like relative humidity, but many, like soil texture, can be adjusted by the land manager. Profitable production is the result of careful management. One of the key factors that can be manipulated is nutrition supplied by elements.

Nitrogen is the most critical element for grass plants because it is often deficient and yields obvious benefits. N fertilization on forages generally increases yield and crude protein content of cool and warm-season grasses. Stored carbohydrates are reduced, which produces a more succulent plant. Plants normally contain between 1 and 5% N, absorbed as nitrate (NO3-), ammonium (NH4+) ions and urea. Nitrate is most often available but must be reduced to NH4+ or NH3 for plant utilization. Too much nitrogen may result in animal disorders related to high nitrate, alkaloid content, or hypomagnesemia. Some plants also are more susceptible to lodging, disease, or insect invasion.

Legumes can fix their own nitrogen from the atmosphere. Nitrogen application is not typically recommended for legumes. Adding nitrogen decreases the nodulation on legume roots and the amount of N fixed by the plants. There is no yield increase of tissue nitrogen percentage when legumes are properly inoculated. Legumes usually require more K, S, Mo, and B than grasses. Since the nutrient needs of grasses and legumes differ, use fertilizers to manage a grass/legume mixture. Adding K, S, Mo, and B will favor legume growth. Grasses crowding out legumes or the invasion of weedy species may indicate decreasing levels of K. K has shown to increase stand longevity in addition to yield and quality. When managing a mixed sward, fertilization can do more than just increase yield. Remember the differences between grasses and legumes. Determine which species are desired as dominant in a mixture. What kind of mixture best meets the animal requirements? Do other limitations determined by geophysical factors (soil, weather, elevation) favor grasses or legumes?

Phosphorus (P) makes up about 0.1 and 0.4% of a plant and is involved in energy storage and transfer, root growth, early maturation, quality, and disease resistance. Plants absorb H2PO4- or HPO42- orthophosphate ions. Adequate P is especially important to germinating seedling root growth.

Potassium (K) concentration in vegetative tissue usually ranges from 1 to 4% of dry matter. Plants absorb N and P in compounds but the K+ ion is absorbed as K+. K influences enzyme activity, water and energy relations, transpiration and translocation, and N uptake and protein synthesis.

Sulfur (S) is absorbed by plant roots as a sulfate ion SO42-. Elemental S can also be used as a fertilizer. Normally, S concentrations range between 0.1 and 0.4%. Deficiencies in S result in retarded growth: stunted, thin-stemmed, and spindly plants. Some confuse a S deficiency with a shortage of N because of growth problems and pale green color. Sulfur problems show up first in younger leaves while N deficiencies show up first in older leaves. S is essential for plant amino acid synthesis.

There are a few ways to determine what nutrients are needed: soil testing, plant tissue analysis, yield response, and crop removal. Yield response and crop removal take careful observation and a long time period. Plant tissue analysis is a good way to determine how much of a nutrient is being absorbed by the plants and therefore depleted from the soil. Determining what has been removed by analyzing the crop yield is a way of determining what should be replaced. Plant tissue analysis can provide valuable information but replacement of nutrients should also consider leaching and other losses. Calculating the pounds of nutrients removed from dry matter yield involves a simple equation. Multiply the average tissue concentration (determined by tissue analysis) for the specific element (usually N, P, K, and S) by the dry matter yield in pounds per acre. If the average tissue concentration for K is 1.85% and the dry matter yield of a hay crop is 8 tons, put the percentage in decimal form and the 8 tons into pounds, each ton is 2000 pounds (907 kilograms): .0185 X 16000 pounds (7257.5 kilograms) = 296 pounds (134.3 kilograms) of K removed.

A soil test is the best way to know if the soil can provide these elements to plants. A soil test is a chemical method of estimating the capacity of the soil to supply nutrients. Taken every 2-3 years to monitor soil acidity and fertility, a soil test can be a very helpful tool before forages are planted. Soil tests determine what nutrients are in the soil; not the plant uptake, which can be measured by plant analysis. Technology is developing more accurate ways of soil sampling resulting in efficient, environmental-minded, and scientifically sound fertilizer application. But the basic guidelines include several highlights. Soil test samples should be taken every 2.5 - 5 acres (1-2 hectares) and in areas of different geophysical features (hillsides, soil types, areas managed differently) to represent the entire field, but should avoid small unusual spots. Dig out a sample of soil from plow depth unless a shallower height is needed as in cases of renovation or established pastures. Avoid contaminating sampling tools with fertilizer or soils from other spots. Do not use galvanized, brass, or bronze tools when planning to request information on micronutrients such as zinc. Place the collection of samples into a clean container and mix thoroughly. Fill a sample bag with soil and fill out needed information. Do not use paper bags for the composite sample. Each sample should be about 1 pint of soil consisting of subsamples taken from 15-20 locations. Record information about the samples and locations. Keep a map of soil sampling over the years to develop a real sense of the soil history and potential fertilizer application. Label them before sending them to a soil testing service. Request what tests you want performed since each test costs money. 152ee80cbc

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