Acidic soil management can enhance crop yield by 25 pc

BSS :

Soil management with liming and organic matter can be the best ways of boosting crop yield by 25 percent on an average in the high Barind area because most of its lands have turned into acidic at present hampering crop production badly. Acid soils are a major agricultural constraint for crop production due to its detrimental effect to soil fertility and productivity. Soil health experts came up with the observation while addressing a seminar titled “Acidic Soil Management” here today.
Rajshahi divisional office of Soil Resource Development Institution (SRDI) organized the seminar at the office conference hall of Deputy Director of Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE).
Agricultural extension and research officials and other stakeholders joined the seminar and some of them took part in its open discussion putting forward a set of recommendations on the issue. SRDI Director General Jalal Uddin addressed the meeting as chief guest, while Directors Dr Samira Sultana and Dr Abdur Rouf spoke as special guests with Chief Scientific Officer Monzurul Haque in the chair.
During his keynote presentation Dr Nurul Islam, Principal Scientific Officer of SRDI, said liming and organic fertilization has been found effective towards boosting cropping yield through protecting soil health in the high Barind area. Organic matter creates a positive soil environment from which plants can uptake nutrients from applied chemical fertilizers. It increases uptake of applied chemical fertilizers by the plants which contributes to increasing crop productivity through reducing toxic flow of active chemical fertilizers to the environment.
Dr Islam also said soil organic matter is a key factor in maintaining long-term soil fertility since it is the reservoir of metabolic energy, which drives soil biological processes involved in nutrient availability.