Integrated nutrient management in rice-sunflower cropping system on yield and nutrient balance sheet.

Integrated nutrient management in rice- sunflower cropping system was evaluated for yield and deviations in soil nutrient status in the sandy loamy soils of Andhra Pradesh. The experiment was conducted in 2001 and 2002 with the same set of treatments at two different places at Agricultural College Farm, Rajendranagar. The results of the study revealed that the integrated nutrient supply by partly substituting 25 per cent recommended N fertiliser equivalent with FYM to rice increased the yield of rice (4367 kg ha−1) and also the rice equivalent yield of succeeding sunflower (1878 kgha−1) consistently during two years. The mean total productivity of the system was 6214 kgha−1 while the inorganic fertilisation produced a mean of 5595 kgha−1 rice equivalent yield. The balance of nitrogen and phosphorus was negative except for phosphorus due to integration of organic sources of nutrients during second year and positive for potassium due to this nutrient management strategy in rice – sunflower cropping system.