Enhancing crop production value with the help of fertilizers and pesticides is a common practice in the agricultural industry. Owing to the constantly increasing demand for agricultural production, farmers have resolved to overconsumption of fertilizer in their crops over the past several years.
Although fertilizers significantly enhance the quantity of crop production, these chemicals have harmful effects on human health and soil.
Over the years, researchers have observed a severe impact of improper fertilization management on soil fertility. The majority of the nutritional content contained in the soil gets lost, which leads to leaching and causes great losses to farmers.
Additionally, over 70% of the world's water is used by agriculture, and water availability is declining in many regions. Innovative irrigation techniques are needed to mitigate these challenges.
Fertigation and chemigation systems are one such solution that aid in lowering the consumption of water and fertilizer, lowering production costs, and improving crop quality. Numerous businesses provide automated fertigation solutions that lower labor expenses and make it simple to use sensors to identify crops that are lacking in nutrients.
Fertigation and chemigation activities can be better handled and monitored in the field with the help of automated systems. Field operations can be remotely controlled by irrigation software. To maximize agricultural and water efficiency, it is possible to strategically plan how and when the irrigation or fertigation must be carried out.
Fertigation and chemigation systems include whole setups that can be used in a variety of settings, including residential, sports fields, landscapes, and agriculture.
These systems use sensors, controllers, water flow meters, sprinklers, drip lines, water pumps, and nozzles to provide end-to-end coverage over the fertigation and chemigation processes. Components are the discrete pieces of gear and software needed to set up a whole fertigation and chemigation system.
These elements aid in the automation of the fertigation and chemigation processes, which increases fertigation efficiency and reduces water and fertilizer use and waste.
Due to the efficiency of the systems and extremely low fertilizer and water requirements of fertigation, the market for fertigation and chemigation solutions is anticipated to increase at a CAGR of over 8% from 2022 to 2027.
According to the BIS Research analysis, the global fertigation and chemigation market size was estimated to be at $11 billion in 2021, and it is expected to reach $18.6 billion by 2027.
How Does Fertigation Work?
The process of applying dissolved fertilizer to crops via an irrigation system is known as fertigation.
In this process, both nutrients and water may be controlled and managed in conjunction with an effective irrigation system to get the most marketable product out of a given amount of inputs.
The installation of an irrigation system is the first significant piece of equipment needed in this procedure to fertigate plants. The installation of a backflow preventer is essential if an irrigation system is put in place to avoid fertilizer contamination of the water source. Any form of plant fertigation system must begin with the installation of irrigation systems.
Understanding which crops require fertigation is crucial once the setup is operational. Determining how frequently the plants receive this dual dose of nourishment is also crucial.
For instance, the general rule for lawns is that to maintain consistency, they should be fertilized four to six times a year. Again, the type of grass that grows on the lawns will determine this because each version has needs. For instance, cool-season grasses should be fertilized at least twice a year, once in the winter and once in the early fall.
Moreover, solid fertilizer side-dressings are frequently timed to meet management requirements rather than the crop's needs. The dilemma of applying fertilizer the day before a significant downpour and then wondering how much of it either washes off the crop in runoff or leaches below the root zone would be familiar to most farmers.
Continuously applying a small number of soluble nutrients solves these issues, reduces labor costs, loosens up the soil, uniformly distributes fertilizer around plant roots, and enables quick nutrient uptake by the plant.
When choosing fertilizers and injection tools, as well as when managing and maintaining the system, special care should be taken to reap these benefits.
Benefits of Using Fertigation in Farms
In comparison to traditional fertilization, fertigation can be managed correctly and logically to increase yields. The benefits of using fertigation and chemigation are mentioned as follows:
• The application of fertilizers is limited to the root zone, which lowers waste and unnecessary chemicals.
• Customized nutrients supplied to the crops result in better growth response.
• The split application of nutrients and fertilizers provides better control of runoff and leaching into groundwater.
• Easy to use fully automated setup for farm fertigation.
• The system can be used for other purposes, i.e., chemigation, soil amendments, and maintenance.
• It can help in overcoming the negative effects of saline water.
• Less labor, energy, and resources are required for receiving, storing, and applying fertilizer.
• Controlled fertigation also aids in reduced soil erosion and prevents loss of soil fertility.
• There are no limitations or limits on application time.
• Accurate and uniform distribution of fertilizers for superior efficiency
Conclusion
An increase in agricultural output per hectare was brought about by the expanding use of fertigation on a global scale. Fertilizer is fertigated onto plants and then applied using a micro irrigation method. It is a cutting-edge and powerful fertilization technique.
Fertigation is the blending of water and nutrients, two key resources for plant growth. Through the process of fertigation, fertiliser is directly injected into plant roots.
It is proving to be a great solution to the financial and environmental challenges raised by the overuse of fertilisers in the agriculture industry.
