Decision support system for fertilizer recommendationA case study

Abstract

The present work carried during 201012 at the Dharwad, Karnataka, to provide support to the farmers of se- lected zones in decision-making process towards application of fertilizer in selected crops. A Decision Support System (DSS) on fertilizer recommendation was designed and developed using Visual Basic 6.0 as a plat-form taking help of the information from Soil Test and Crop Response (STCR) research. The developed DSS is a con- sole application and helps in taking decision to farmers on amount of fertilizer to be applied in different crops. The study revealed that, on an average framers of Dharwad, growing maize ( Zea mays L.) and chilli ( Capsicum sp.) are applying 20 kg N, 10 kg P O , 12 kg K O and 26 kg N, 36 kg P O , 15 kg K O/ha for each crop in excess of the re- 2 5 2 2 5 2 quired amount which caused not only unnecessary expenditure on fertilizer, amounting to 938 and 2,102/ha re- spectively, Thus, the developed DSS is useful in augmenting economic agricultural production maintaining soil and environmental health, avoiding unnecessary wastage of resources, even in absence of experts by the farmers themselves.