Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2017) 6(3): 254-265 254 Review Article https://doi.org/10.20546/ijcmas.2017.603.028 Integrated Nutrient Management (INM) Approaches in Flower Crops Muneeb Ahmad Wani 1* , Sartaj A. Wani 2 , Malik Sajad Ahmad 3 , Riaz Ahmed Lone 1 , Gazanfer Gani 1 , F.U Khan 1 and Neelofar 1 1 Division of Floriculture and Landscape Architecture, 2 Division of Soil Science, 3 Division of Plant Pathology, Faculty of Horticulture, SKUAST-K, Shalimar Campus, Srinagar 190001, Jammu and Kashmir, India *Corresponding author ABSTRACT Introduction Floriculture is a branch of horticulture concerning cultivation of flowering and ornamental plants for gardens and floristry. It includes cut flowers, cut greens, bedding plant, houseplants, flowering garden and potted plants etc. The rising living standards and unabated urbanization in the present day the world has led to growing demand of flowers and their products thereby making the floriculture an important commercial trade. Commercial floriculture has higher potential per unit area than the field crops and is therefore evolving as a lucrative business all over the world (Misra and Sudip, 2016). The area and under floriculture in India are about International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 6 Number 3 (2017) pp. 254-265 Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com Sustainable agriculture has become a burning issue due to “energy crisis” and “environmental protection”. One aspect of sustainable agriculture is Integrated Nutrient Management (INM). Many regions in India like Kashmir, Himachal and other hilly regions have huge potential for quality flower production. Since floriculture is energy and cost intensive type of farming, the input cost of fertilisers is very high, which can be avoided by going for alternative methods like INM. There is scant information available concerning the use of organic fertilizer as the sole source of nutrients in flower production, especially in the cultivation of flowers has made its applicability more difficult. INM is a practice that is being rapidly adopted by growers, combines the use of adjusted nutrient rates, more efficient fertilizer sources, organic matter and soil inoculation. INM holds great promise in exhibiting the growing nutrient demands of intensive farming like Floriculture and maintaining productivity at its optimum with holistic improvement in the quality of resource base, which is very much important in-case of cut and bulbous flowers. Investigations by many researchers have revealed the beneficial influence of INM, on vegetative (plant height, leaf area, leaf number), floral (first bud appearance, floral diameter, weight of flower) and yield attributes (seed weight, seed production) of many flower crops, reduced the cost of fertilizer inputs and increased the B/C ratio, despite maintaining a good soil physico-chemical environment. It can be concluded that by reducing the levels of chemical fertilizer and optimizing the dose of different organic fertilizer can improve yield and quality in ornamental crops without adversely affecting the edaphic and environmental features. Therefore this discourse will mainly discuss on the integrative approaches on production and management of many flower crops, commercially grown in India and Kashmir valley. Keywords Bio-fertilizers, energy, flowers, microbial inoculants, nutrients, INM, yield. Accepted: 10 February 2017 Available Online: 10 March 2017 Article Info