Nutrient Management

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**33**

**Chapter 3**

**Abstract**

restore soil productivity.

**1. Introduction**

Packages of Organic Nutrient

Management as Soil Policy for

Upgrading Cropping System to

The indigenous farming systems are, by and large, organically practiced. Organic farming systems facilitate the buildup of soil organic matter, reducing risk of erosion and runoff and enhancing nutrient storehouse in soils for plants. Rapid developments in organic farming promotion necessitated continuous flow of technology to meet day-to-day challenges. Farmyard manure (FYM), compost, and green manure are the most important and widely used bulky organic manures. Manuring with different short-duration legumes is suitable for maintenance of soil quality in terms of adding nitrogen to soil. Sustainable quantity of potassium can be maintained by vegetative mulching with crop residues. The use of balanced dosages of mixed compost at 5–10 t/ha along with 2 t/ha dolomite increases yield of maize, rice, mustard, and soybean. This article briefly describes about the integrated organic nutrient management as soil policy for upgrading cropping system to

**Keywords:** organic farming, balanced dose, soil, policy, manure, cropping system

Sikkim enjoys a wide range of climate, physiographic, geology, and vegetation that influence formation of different kinds of soils. Hills of Sikkim mainly consist of gneissose and half-schistose rocks, producing generally poor and shallow brown soils [1, 2]. The soil is coarse, with large concentrations of iron oxide, and ranges from neutral to acidic, making it lacking in mineral nutrients. This type of soil tends to support evergreen and deciduous forests [3]. Rock consists of phyllites and schists, which is much younger in age and is highly susceptible to weathering and erosion [4–8]. This combined with the state's heavy rainfall causes extensive soil erosion and the loss of soil nutrients through leaching. Soils of Sikkim belong to 3 orders, 7 suborders, 12 great groups, and 26 subgroups. It is observed that inceptisols are dominant (42.84%) followed by entisols and mollisols occupying 42.52 and

) in Sikkim

14.64%, respectively. Percentage area under Zn deficiency (<0.6 mg kg<sup>−</sup><sup>1</sup>

is 15.69% (202.35 sq. km) of the geographic area having highest Zn deficiency in South Sikkim district (82.07 sq. km, 19.1% of TGAD) followed by East (56.84 sq. km, 13.3% of TGAD), West (48.91 sq. km, 15.7 of TGAD), and North (14.53 sq. km,

Restore Soil Productivity

*Shaon Kumar Das and Ravikant Avasthe*

## **Chapter 3**
