All living organisms need three types of nutrients: organic substances, , minerals and water. When the soil’s content of assimilable nutrients is insufficient, these are added through fertilization. Fertilization generally aims at increasing or maintaining the nutrient status of the soil. These days all the growers due to high demand and economic climate, push their crops to the limit so fertilization is important in order to have high yields and healthy crops.
So which factors determine fertilization needs?
- The yield of the crop and the quality/size of the product produced
- The results of the soil analysis
- The soil characteristics
- The needs of an element at each stage of crop cultivation
- The density of the crop (number of plants/acre)
- The climate of the area, the distribution of rainfall, the type of irrigation
- Percentage of organic matter in the soil