ICFRE-Forest Research Institute (FRI) organized a seminar on “Soil Nutrient depletion and its Replenishment” 12 October 2023.

ICFRE-Forest Research Institute (FRI) organized a seminar on “Soil Nutrient depletion and its Replenishment”. The purpose of the seminar was to raise awareness of the importance of maintaining healthy ecosystems and human well-being by addressing the growing challenges in soil management, increasing soil awareness and encouraging societies to improve soil health by nutrient replenishment through various means. Dr. Renu Singh, IFS Director, FRI and Vice Chancellor FRI deemed to be university was the chief guest and  emphasized on the significance of nutrient depletion and its replenishment and its role for different type of forests and land uses. She elaborated that soils provide and regulate a large number of ecosystem services and play an important role in sustaining humanity. The benefits we receive from soils are directly or indirectly linked to clean air, water and food production and are key to poverty alleviation and climate change mitigation. Approximately more than 5 billion tons of top soil is being eroded every year, while nearly 30% of the soil (about 1.6 billion tons) is lost in the sea through rivers. About 175 million hectares of India’s land is experiencing severe soil erosion as a result of massive deforestation and inadequate land management. According to National Academy of Agricultural Sciences India’s annual soil loss is about 15.35 tonnes per ha. About 74 million tons of major nutrients are lost due to erosion. The country loses approximately 0.8, 1.8, and 26.3 million tons of N, P and K respectively.

Among the SDGs, goal number 15 is dedicated to “Life on land: Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss”. To achieve this goal a well-focused attention is needed to replenish soil nutrients and rehabilitate our ecosystem. It may be achieved by genuinely using feasible soil amendments which will manipulate soil nutrient cycling and immobilize plant available nutrients.

On this occasion Dr. Ramesh Chandra, Professor & Head (Retd.) G.B. Pant university of Agriculture and technology delivered a lecture on replenishment of lost nutrient in soil by organic and inorganic means. He discussed various sustainable sources of nutrients to enhance biomass. Dr. Sridhar Patra, Senior Scientist, IISWC, and Dehradun deliberated on forest soil hydrological investigations using tension infiltrometry. Dr. S.K. Tripathi Professor Mizoram University talked about nutrient cycling and various causes of nutrient depletion from different landuses. He emphasis on forest soils particularly biogeochemical cycles, landscape transformation in Indian tropics, translocation of nutrients and soil carbon in different forest types.

Dr. N.K. Upreti Group Coordinator (Research), Head of Divisions, Registrar FRIDU, Dr. N. Bala, Dr. Vijender Panwar, Dr. Parul Bhatt Kotiyal, Dr. Tara Chand, Dr. Abhishek Kumar Verma, scientists/ technical professionals, PhD scholars and other 115 participants attended this seminar.