Fertilizer Management Strategies under Rainfed Conditions in Lentil Based Cropping Systems

To optimize fertilizer management strategies for rainfed cultivation under lentil (lens culinaris) based cropping systems field trials were conducted at University Research Farm, Pir Mehr AliShah Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi during 2007-2009. Lentil was planted in winter andduring summer sorghum (sorghum bicolor) and mung bean (vigna radiata) followed lentil. Five different fertilizer treatments i.e. farmyard manure (FYM) 30 tons ha^-1, NPK 35-40-20 kg ha^-1, poultry manure 20 tons ha^-1, compost (press mud) 12.5 tons ha^-1 and inoculation by phosphorus mobilizing microorganisms 2.5 packets ha^-1, in addition to control were evaluated under lentil-sorghum and lentilmungbean cropping patterns. Fertilizer treatments were only applied to lentil while their residual effect was studied on sorghum and mungbean. The results revealed that net benefits and marginal rate of return from NPK were the highest mainly due to high lentil yield and poultry manure was next to it. The residual analysis confirmed the findings. Similarly sorghum gave higher returns than mung bean when grown after lentil. The studies showed that partial budget analysis was a reliable technique for farmers to optimize fertilizer recommendations and harvest maximum returns from their investment in agricultural business.