Indian Soils are Nutrient deficiency 

Indian Soils are Nutrient deficiency 

Subject: Geography

Section: Geomorphology

Context: 

• ‘State of Biofertilizers and Organic fertilizers in India’ report by Centre for Science and Environment highlights the soil nutrient deficiency in India

About Soil Nutrients:

• Plants require a steady supply of macronutrients and micronutrients.
• Macronutrients are required in larger quantities than micronutrients.
• The names of the two categories don’t imply that one type of nutrient is more important than another; it just means that more macronutrients must be present in the soil than micronutrients.
• Plants obtain nearly all of the nutrients they need from the soil, although some are obtained via photosynthesis.

Macronutrients are divided into two groups: 

1. Primary: Needed in the highest concentration: Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P), and Potassium (K)
2. Secondary: Required for sustained plant health, but in lower quantities than the primary macronutrients. Calcium (Ca), Magnesium (Mg), and Sulfur (S)

Micronutrients: Essential to plant development and growth but are needed only in trace amounts, compared to their macro-counterparts. 

1. Boron (B)
2. Zinc (Zn)
3. Iron (Fe)
4. Manganese (Mn)
5. Copper (Cu)
6. Molybdenum (Mo)
7. Chlorine (Cl)

Status of Indian Soil nutrients as per the study:

• More than 50 million soil samples from across India were tested during 2015-16 to 2018-19 in the government-approved laboratories to understand the state of the country’s soils.