Kadapa Sreenivasa Reddy

Sustainable agriculture plays a vital role in modern farming, addressing concerns of traditional pesticides, which raise issues related to safety, environmental impact, and resistance. Consequently, alternative insect pest management methods, including nutrient-based approaches, have gained prominence. However, understanding the relationship between nutrients and plant diseases remains a complex challenge. This review synthesizes recent insights on the impact of specific nutrients (N, P, K, Mn, Zn, B, Cl and Si) on insect pest resistance in sustainable agriculture. Nitrogen supply has a major impact on insect pest intensity as compared to low nitrogen doses and control, pest populations were high at high levels. Phosphorus (P) has an inconsistent role in resistance. Comprehensive nutrient management in sustainable agriculture offers cost-effective, eco-friendly disease control, reducing pesticide reliance. Potassium (K) enhances resistance to an optimal point, beyond which there is no further improvement. Proper nutrient management can make subsequent control measures more efficient and economical. Understanding the interplay of plant nutrition, insect herbivores, and community dynamics is essential. Balanced nutrient levels, especially potassium and phosphorus, indirectly strengthen plant resistance to various insect pests through biochemical, physical, and mechanical mechanisms. Strategies to enhance plant defense against phytophagous insects align with the demand for food and nutritional security. This review emphasizes the significance of comprehensive nutrient management in sustainable agriculture for disease and pest control while prioritizing food safety and environmental quality.

The in-situ management of rice straw incorporation has become an essential practice in the rice–wheat cropping system with the growing adoption of super-seeder among farmers. While this equipment facilitates straw incorporation, nutrient immobilization from organic residues during decomposition poses a challenge to production. This study investigates the effect of bio-decomposer, nitrogen (N) level, and N scheduling on on various parameters in super-seeder sown wheat over two consecutive years (2020–21 and 2021–22). The experiment was laid in split-split-plot design without (B0) and with (B1) bio-decomposer, two nitrogen levels 150 (N1) and 180 (N2) kg ha⁻¹ and three N splits (%) viz., 50: 25:25 (S1), 40: 30: 30 (S2), and 30:35:35 (S3) and replicated thrice. Results indicate significantly higher N concentration and uptake at pre- and post-anthesis with N2 and S1 compared to N1, S2, and S3. Post-anthesis N accumulation (post-NA) and remobilization (NR) were notably higher with N2. Dry matter accumulation (DMA) at anthesis and harvest significantly increased with N2 and S1 compared to N1 and S3, leading to significantly improved grain yield by 8.3% and 10.9% (two years mean). Soil urease activity (UA) significantly increased with bio-decomposer, N2, and S1 compared to B0, N1, and S3 at 30 and 60 DAS. Moreover, bio-decomposer enhanced soil microbial biomass carbon (SMBC). These findings underscore the importance of higher N levels with a greater basal N proportion in mitigating N stress and promoting sustainable wheat productivity. It also highlight the significance of effectively utilizing and conserving rice residue in the rice–wheat system.

In agricultural systems, significant nitrogen (N) losses from traditional fertilizers pose risks to food security and economic stability. An emerging approach to mitigate these losses involves nanoparticles (NPs) coatings onto urea, aiming to enhance N availability and consequently boost crop yields. To explore the most effective and sustainable N management strategies, a field experiment was carried out in Basmati rice at the ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India over 2020–2021 in a split-plot design, with two summer green manure (GM) types-Sesbania (G2) and cowpea (G3) and fallow in the main plot and six nitrogen fertilization (NF) modules, i.e., 0 kg N + 5 kg Zn ha⁻¹ through bulk ZnO (N1), N through prilled urea (PU) (N2), N through PU + 5 kg Zn ha⁻¹ through bulk ZnO (N3), 1% bulk ZnO-coated urea (1% BZnCU) (N4), 0.1% nano ZnO-coated urea (0.1% NZnCU) (N5) and 0.2% nano ZnO-coated urea (0.2% NZnCU) (N6) in subplots replicated three times. The objectives of the study was to identify the optimal GM crops and the most effective NF modules on enhancing plant height, dry biomass, grain yield, milling quality, and N, P, K nutrition, as well as nitrogen use efficiency (NUE). Our findings demonstrated that, a significant enhancement in plant height (13.34%) and dry biomass (38.1%) at harvest was observed with the combined application of G2 and N6 when juxtaposed against G1 and N1. The pooled analysis revealed that GM enhanced grain yield by 12.75% in comparison to G1, irrespective of the NF modules employed. The Sesbania was identified as the top-performing GM, registering a yield 17.5% greater than fallow while it was 8.13% for cowpea. Among NF modules, there was a noted 10.03% yield increase when urea was zinc-coated compared to using only urea (N2), and a 33.75% increase against the N1. The application of N6 modules boosted hulling, milling, and head rice recovery by 3.73, 4.45, and 4.98%, respectively, compared to N1. Moreover, combining zinc with urea raised the N content in milled rice by approximately 9.1% and heightened the N, P, and K concentration in the straw by 22.8, 4.44, and 11.8%, and total N, P, and K uptake by 5.72, 3.33, and 11.7%, in comparison to the combined effect of N1 and N2. Considering the NUE metrics, such as partial factor productivity (PFP), agronomic efficiency (AE), recovery efficiency (RE), and physiological efficiency (PE), the application of GM showcased superior performance in PFP and RE against the G1, while AE and PE remained unaffected. The G2 as a GM, performed best in PFP and RE. The N5 module delineated the most substantial advancements in NUE indices, despite being comparable to N6. In conclusion, the adoption of Sesbania as a green manure crops, coupled with the 0.2% nano ZnO-coated urea module, is identified as an efficient method for maximizing growth, yield, milling attributes, nutrient assimilation, and overall NUE in the Basmati rice.

Biofortification or biological fortification refers to nutritionally enhanced food crops with increased bioavailability to the human population that are developed and grown using modern bio-technology techniques, conventional plant breeding, and agronomic practices. Our agricultural system has not been designed to promote human health; instead, it only focuses on increasing grain yield and crop productivity. This approach has resulted in a rapid rise in micronutrient deficiency in food grains, thereby increasing micronutrient malnutrition among consumers. Biofortification is a one-time investment and offers a cost-effective, long-term, and sustainable approach in fighting hidden hunger because once the biofortified crops are developed, there are no costs of buying the fortificants and adding them to the food supply during processing. Agronomic biofortification methods requires physical application of nutrients to temporarily improve the nutritional and health status of crops and consumption of such crops improves the human nutritional status. Soil and plant are managed by agronomic interventions. For the biofortification initiative to be successful, farmers use micronutrient fertilizers to fortified cultivars must get marketing support. Besides challenges the biofortification of millets have a promising future in combating the problem of malnutrition.

During the summer and rainy seasons (April-October) of 2020 and 2021, two consecutive field experiments were conducted at the research farm of the ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India. In this study, we examined the effects of summer green manuring crops (GM) and a variety of zinc fertilizers (ZnF) onBasmatirice (Oryza sativaL.) growth, physiological development, yield response, zinc nutrition and economic returns. A combination of GM residues and nano zinc fertilization helped significantly enhancingBasmatirice’s growth and its physiological development. Following the incorporation ofSesbania aculeata(Sesbania), successiveBasmatirice physiological parameters were significantly improved, as well as grain, straw, biological yields, harvest index and economic returns. The highest Zn content of 15.1 mg kg^-1and the lowest of 11.8 mg kg^-1in milled rice grain were recorded inSesbaniagreen manuring (G2) and control i.e., in the fallow (G1), respectively. Coating onto urea with 0.2% nano zinc oxide (NZnCU) was observed to be more effective than other zinc sources in terms of growth parameters, yield attributes, zinc nutrition, grain and straw yields for succeedingBasmatirice crop; however, the effects were comparable to those of bulk zinc oxide-coated urea (BZnCU) of 1%. The highest Zn content of 15.1 mg kg^-1was recorded with the application of 1% BZnCU and the lowest of 11.96 mg kg^-1with the soil application of 5 kg Zn ha^-1through bulk ZnO in the milled rice grain. Application of 1% BZnCU led to a 26.25% increase in Zn content of milled rice grain compared to soil application of 5 kg Zn ha^-1through bulk ZnO. As a result, the combination of inclusion ofSesbania aculeata(Sesbania) residue and 0.2% NZnCU was identified as the most effective treatment, for Basmati rice growth and physiological development. A combination of nano Zn fertilization in conjunction with the incorporation of green manure can be advocated for better growth, physiological performance, zinc dense grains, and higher profitability of Basmati rice for farmers and consumers.