Abstract:
The average productivity of the tea sector in Sri Lanka remains low compared to competitors mainly due to the decline of soil fertility. Total tea production in 2011 declined marginally by 0.3% accounting to 328.6 million kg over 2010. Fertilizer and its application account for about 8-12% of the total cost of production in tea. Generally, a blanket fertilizers recommendation is used on the basis of made tea yields for different tea growing regions in the country. Plant nutrient reserves or deficiencies in the soil are not considered in such recommendations. Therefore, less application or over application of certain plant nutrients could occur. Less application of plant nutrients creates reduction of yield and soil fertility decline, while over application results in increased cost of production and environmental problems. Proposing fertilizer recommendations based on soil nutrient data for a given field is called Site-
Specific Fertilizer Recommendation (SSFR). SSFR optimizes crop yield and thereby increase profits while reducing the loss of nutrients. The main objective of this study was to propose a Site Specific Fertilizer Recommendation for No-16 field, Balagalle Division of Glen Alpin Estate in Badulle. This was achieved by characterizing soil chemical properties of the given field such as pH, EC, macro-nutrients (P, K, Mg and Ca). The measured data were used to propose SSFR and a sampling scheme for future studies for the given site.
