Abstract

An investigation was carried out to monitor the nutrient flows and stocks and to calculate the nutrient balance both at crop activity level and at farm level in different Agro-Climatic Zones of Tamil Nadu. A total number of 139 farms covering Cauvery Delta Zone, North Western Zone, Western Zone, North Eastern Zone and Southern Zone representing irrigated as well as rainfed farming systems were selected. Farm inventory and periodical monitoring along with soil and plant sampling were done to generate data required for the calculation of nutrient balance using NUTMON-tool. The results indicated that nitrogen and potassium were negative in majority of the farms and in all the zones and phosphorus was negative in few farms. The outcome from this study will be useful to agricultural policy makers and also to the farmers to design policy interventions to mitigate the negative nutrient balance.

Keywords: Nutrient balance, Nutmon, Agroclimatic zones