Dynamics of Nitrogen under Sub Surface Drip Fertigation System on Banana cv. Rasthali

Nitrogen (N) is needed for all growth processes, as it is the major component of amino acids, which
are the building blocks of proteins, enzymes and the green pigment chlorophyll. Chlorophyll converts
sunlight energy into plant energy in the form of sugars and carbohydrates. The sub surface drip
fertigation is a technique to apply both water and fertilizers through drip irrigation system during the
recent years were shown to be very effective in achieving higher water and fertilizer use efficiencies.
The nutrient mobility study revealed that fertigation treatments maintained higher concentration of
available nitrogen around root zone of banana compared to surface irrigation with soil application of
recommended dose of fertilizers where most of the nutrients moved to deeper layer due to leaching
fraction of applied fertilizers. In general, subsurface drip fertigation of 100 per cent RDF treatments in
combination with liquid biofertilizers maintained higher available NPK in the post-harvest soil
compared to surface irrigation with soil application of recommended dose of fertilizers. Further, drip
fertigation integrated with liquid biofertilizers created favorable condition for multiplication of beneficial
micro-organisms in the rhizosphere region.