Soil Fertility Management and Crop Productivity

Soil fertility management encompasses a suite of practices designed to maintain or enhance the nutrient content, structure and biological activity of soils to support sustainable crop production. These practices include the balanced application of organic and inorganic fertilisers, integration of microbial inoculants, adoption of conservation tillage and the recycling of agricultural residues. Healthy soils exhibit optimal levels of organic matter, cation exchange capacity and microbial diversity, which together drive nutrient cycling, water retention and root development. Effective soil fertility strategies are critical for improving nutrient-use efficiency, reducing environmental pollution and securing global food supplies under changing climatic conditions. By combining physical, chemical and biological approaches, farmers can optimise yields, improve crop quality and enhance long-term agroecosystem resilience.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent studies have demonstrated the value of integrating organic amendments and bio-based inoculants with conventional fertilisers. Field experiments in paddy systems have shown that combining poultry and cattle manure with urea at appropriate ratios enhances photosynthetic rates, chlorophyll content and post-anthesis biomass accumulation, resulting in yield gains of up to 17%. These benefits are linked to improvements in soil bulk density, organic carbon, microbial biomass and nitrogen-metabolising enzyme activity, which in turn support greater nitrogen uptake during grain filling. Similarly, research on sugarcane cultivation has revealed that co-application of a microbial consortium comprising nitrogen-fixing and plant-growth–promoting bacteria with reduced rates of NPK fertilisers sustains soil organic carbon and microbial biomass, increases cation exchange capacity and boosts sugarcane yield and quality. Such integrated approaches permit a reduction in synthetic fertiliser inputs by up to 50%, while maintaining crop performance and enhancing soil health indicators.

Soil Fertility Management and Crop Productivity publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in soil fertility management and crop productivity across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Cation exchange capacity (CEC): The ability of soil to retain and exchange positively charged nutrient ions, influencing nutrient availability and soil structure.

Organic matter: Decomposed plant and animal residues in the soil that provide nutrients, improve structure and support microbial life.

Post-anthesis biomass: Plant biomass accumulated after flowering, a critical period for grain filling and yield determination.

Microbial biomass: The living component of soil organic matter, including bacteria and fungi, essential for nutrient cycling and soil fertility.

References

1. Use of sugarcane industrial by-products for improving sugarcane productivity and soil health. International Journal of Recycling of Organic Waste in Agriculture (2016).
2. Co-incorporation of manure and inorganic fertilizer improves leaf physiological traits, rice production and soil functionality in a paddy field. Scientific Reports (2021).
3. Long-Term No-Tillage and Straw Retention Management Enhances Soil Bacterial Community Diversity and Soil Properties in Southern China. Agronomy (2020).
4. Crop Nutrition and Yield Response of Bagasse Application on Sugarcane Grown on a Mineral Soil. Agronomy (2021).
5. Soil quality parameters vis-a-vis growth and yield attributes of sugarcane as influenced by integration of microbial consortium with NPK fertilizers. Scientific Reports (2020).