~ 222 ~ The Pharma Innovation Journal 2020; 9(7): 222-230 ISSN (E): 2277- 7695 ISSN (P): 2349-8242 NAAS Rating: 5.03 TPI 2020; 9(7): 222-230 © 2020 TPI www.thepharmajournal.com Received: 12-05-2020 Accepted: 16-06-2020 T Ramesh Department of Agronomy, Anbil Dharmalingam Agricultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu, India S Rathika Department of Agronomy, Anbil Dharmalingam Agricultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu, India G Nagarajan Department of Agronomy, Anbil Dharmalingam Agricultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu, India P Shanmugapriya Department of Agronomy, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India Corresponding Author: T Ramesh Department of Agronomy, Anbil Dharmalingam Agricultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu, India Land configuration and nitrogen management for enhancing the crop productivity: A review T Ramesh, S Rathika, G Nagarajan and P Shanmugapriya Abstract Land configuration techniques such as ridges and furrows and broad bed and furrow can play a vital role to overcome soil related problems by providing easy and uniform germination as well as good growth and development of plants. The recommended land configuration for finger millet is flat bed which produces lesser yield mainly because of poor soil hydro regimes. It is highly essential to investigate the benefits of improved land configuration techniques like ridges and furrows and broad bed and furrow on the productivity of various crops. Land configuration plays a major role in minimizing soil erosion and improving water and nutrient use efficiency of field crops. Most of the crops normally grow on poor, marginal soils with imbalanced nutrient application. Among various nutrients, nitrogen is an inevitable nutrient for any crop. Nitrogen (N) management is also one of the most important factor required for improving crop productivity and profitability under semi-arid climates. Keywords: Land configuration, nitrogen management, growth, yield, nutrient uptake, economics Introduction Our agricultural systems are more diverse in nature due to the vagaries in climatic factors such as temperature, rainfall and CO2 and poor physical soil condition plays a major role in determining the productivity of crops. Beside these phenomenon’s, most of the soils in the semi-arid tropics are deficient in major and micronutrients, mainly due to continuous cropping, low use of mineral fertilizer, poor recycling of crop residues, and low rates of organic matter application which can limit yield potential. Increasing the use of inorganic fertilizers and other agricultural chemical inputs is not a viable strategy for improving the yield and productivity of crops. Sustainable agricultural practices are to be followed for effective utilization of inputs and in turn it conserves the agro-ecosystems by maintaining its stability. Land configuration and appropriate nutrient management plays a major role for improving the input use efficiency and crop production. Land configuration helps for maximizing rainfall infiltration, minimizing erosion, total runoff, facilitates drainage and ultimately improves water use efficiency. Modification of land through broad bed and furrow and ridges and furrows would reduce the soil related problems and improve the crop growth and yield. The raised bed zone of broad bed and furrow system is better aerated with lower penetration resistance and favourable for deeper seed placement and better crop emergence (Jayapaul et al., 1996) [31] . Parihar et al. (2009) [52] reported that ridges and furrows sowing method improved the grain as well as stover yield of pearl millet and succeeding mustard over the flat bed method of sowing. Under rainfed conditions, ridges may help with conservation and availability of moisture for a relatively longer time. With high rainfall, the furrows between the ridges may help drained out of excess water from the crop root zone, improved soil temperature, aeration and nutrient availability and also enhanced the depth of crop root zone (Parihar et al., 2012) [53] . Among the other factors, nutrient management is considered as the most crucial one for improving the growth and productivity of crops. Low productivity of crop as well as poor quality was mainly due to adoption of improper nutrient management techniques. In concerned with this, Indian soils are mostly deficient in terms of nitrogen. Nitrogen is the most yield- restraining nutrient in crop production at global level (Guo et al., 2016) [21] . It is well known that, most of the crops require nitrogen for its healthy vegetative growth during the initial phase of the crop. nitrogen management is one of the most important factors required for improving crop productivity and profitability under semiarid climates (Amanullah, 2016) [2] .