ABSTRACT
Conventionally, in India, cardamom was grown as an undergrowth in dense evergreen forests of Western Ghats of South India, without tillage or nutrient application. Later with the development of intensive agriculture, tilling of soil became a routine practice, and gradually soil got depleted, especially because of cutting of forest trees to reduce shade. Besides, due to heavy rainfall in these areas and undulating topography, soil erosion and leaching of nutrients become inevitable leading to reduction in native soil fertility. Continuous cropping in the same area also leads to rapid depletion of nutrients leading to poor growth and yield. These factors necessitate the application of balanced doses of nutrients for realizing sustainable crop production in cardamom plantations. Judicious agro-management practices and use of high-yielding varieties are important factors influencing productivity vis-à-vis unit cost of cultivation of any crop. Among various management techniques, nutritional management is of great importance even though it is not by itself sufficient enough for improving productivity of a crop. Maintaining soil fertility status at optimum levels should be one of the prime concerns of any cardamom planter.
