• The inorganic constituents of the tobacco plant range from 15 to 25% of its dry matter, the distribution being about 50% in the leaf, 30% in the stem and 20% in the roots.
• The mineral content varies widely, depending on soil and climatic conditions, in different types and varieties of tobacco.
• The major nutrients essential for growth the development of tobacco plant are nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium and sulphur.
• The minor elements equally essential but in micro-quanitites are boron, manganese, iron, zinc, molybdenum and copper.
• Chlorine was also recognized as an essential micro nutrient, at least for certain plants including tobacco.
• When the supply of these elements becomes limited, the plants exhibit characteristic symptoms of deficiency.

• Nitrogen plays a key role in the production of tobacco. Nitrogen requirement for different types of tobacco varies widely from 20 Kg N/ha for FCV tobacco on black clayey soils to 180 Kg N/ha for bidi-tobacco.

Deficiency Symptoms

Nitrogen deficiency causes a progressive loss in green colour starting in the older leaves. Reduction in growth resulting in the stem with pale, small leaves which grow upright.

• Maturing is delayed and cured leaf is thin, pale and lacks in texture with much lower nitrogen and nicotine contents and lower yields.

Excess of nitrogen, results in

Large, dark-green leaves. Profuse sucker-growth and higher proportion of stalk of leaf and midrib to lamina. Ripening is delayed.

• Cured leaf is dark, trashy, thick and immature, with high nicotine and nitrogen and low sugars, though the yields are increased.
• Tobacco plant can utilise both the forms of nitrogen, depending on the soil conditions.
• While alkaline reaction, presence of bicarbonate in and non-sterile conditions favour NH₄-N, acidic reaction and sterile conditions favour NO₃-N.
• Plants supplied with nitrogen in the NH₄- form were found to contain less K in the leaves compared with plants supplied with nitrogen in the NO₃- form.
• Addition of nitrate to the soil, as and when the crop needs, is beneficial to the crop as it becomes quickly available to the plant, encourages uptake of potassium and favourably influences the concentration of organic acids in the plant.
• Decrease in the uptake of potassium and increase in the nicotine content of leaf by ammonical nitrogen was reported.
• Application of organic manures in the form of FYM, filter-press cake or pig manure to supply 20 Kg N/ha was found to give good yield without affecting quality.
• Groundnut cake, though increases the yield, had a depressing effect on bright grades as well as quality.
• Organic nitrogen is considered to prevent tobacco from ripening too rapidly by maintaining a more uniform nitrogen level.

Dosage

Dosage also depends on the type of tobacco

Types of tobacco	Nitrogen in kg/ha
Flue-cured Virginia in heavy soils of Andhra Pradesh	40-45
Flue-cured Virginia of light soils of A.P.	40-50 (S.Light soils) 60-70 (N.Light soils)
Natu tobacco of AP	44
Bidi in Karnataka	45 ( As Ammonium sulphate)
Bidi in Gujarat	90 ( As Ammonium sulphate)
Cigars and cheroot in Tamil Nadu	50 ( As Ammonium sulphate)
Chewing in Bihar	56 ( As Ammonium sulphate)
Hookah and chewing tobacco in U .P .	150
Wrapper tobacco in W.B	125

Method of application

• For majority types of tobacco nitrogen is applied as basal i.e 1^st week before planting.
• But for FCV tobacco grown in light soils of AP , Cigar& cheroot tobacco in Tamil Nadu and for chewing tobacco in Bihar nitrogen is applied in two equal splits.
• One at two weeks before planting and another at 3-4 weeks after transplanting (FCV in Light soils of AP) or 6-7 weeks after transplanting.

• The requirement of phosphorus by flue-cured tobacco is generally low.
• It ranges from 20 to 40 Kg/ha. Only 10% of the applied phosphorus is recovered by the tobacco crop.
• The content of phosphorus in tobacco leaf ranges from 0.5 to 0.9%, which under deficient supply goes down to 0.3%.
• Available phosphorus is abundantly needed in the early stages of growth.
• The plant absorbs Fifty per cent of the requirement, when only 20% of the growth has occurred. Phosphorus application was found to hasten the growth and bud initiation.
• The tobacco plant depends mostly on the applied fertilizer for its phosphorus requirement in the initial stages of growth.
• It is reported that 40-90% of the phosphorus requirement of the plant is met with by applying fertilizer four weeks after the transplanting.
• Response to phosphorus was not observed in black cotton soils in India. This was attributed mainly to the fixation of phosphorus as calcium phosphate.

Deficiency symptoms

Stunted plants

Plants were very much stunted in growth. Deficient phosphorus supply tended to produce dark colours of dull luster in the cured leaf.

• It is general observation that phosphorus improves the colour of flue-cured tobacco.
• In moderate quantities, phosphorus hastens the growth, maturity and improves the quality of tobacco.
• But at higher doses yields get reduced, leaves get undesirably thickened and produce a black ash.
• Phosphorus is positively related to sugar content.
• Better utilization of phosphorus takes place when applied along with nitrogen and particularly when the fertilizers are applied as a band at a depth of 15 cm.

Dosage

• 30 kg/ha for FCV tobacco grown in Heavy soils of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh
• 60-80 kg/ha for FCV tobacco grown in light soils of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh

• Potassium is an essential element for the normal and healthy growth of tobacco plant.
• Its content as. K20 ranges from 2.5 to 7.0% in the leaf .When it falls below the range of 0.5 to 2.5%, deficiency symptoms appear on the plant.

Deficiency symptoms

yellow mottling on leaf just before maturity and spread inwards from the tip and later from the sides of the leaf

• Followed by rim-firing and stunted growth in case of severe deficiency.
• Potassium deficiency may be accentuated by excess nitrogen, particularly in ammonical form, and by high levels of magnesium or sulphur.
• The quality parameters that are related to potassium are physical appearance and burning quality.
• As the rate of available potassium is increased, the potassium content of cured leaf increases and the concentration of calcium and magnesium generally decreases.
• Among the different sources of potassium, potassium sulphate or potassium nitrate are preferred but not potassium chloride.

Dosage

• 50 kg/ha for FCV tobacco grown in Heavy soils of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh
• 80-100 kg/ha for FCV tobacco grown in light soils of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh
• 150 kg/ha for Hookah and chewing tobacco in West Bengal
• 112-125 kg/ha in Wrapper tobacco in West Bengal

• The actual requirement of Calcium by tobacco plant appears to be somewhat less than that for K under average conditions, the content of Ca in the leaf exceeds that of K because of its more abundant supply.
• The normal range of-CaO in the leaf is 3.0 to 7.0% and in stalk only 0.5 to 1.0%. Deficiency symptoms appear when the CaO content in leaf falls below the range of 0.3 to 1.0% and in stalk below 0.2%.

Functions

Calcium is essential for cell wall structure. It is generally present in the plants is insoluble salt.

• Calcium was suggested to function as a general regulator of cell metabolism, it may also function to prevent injury from an excess of other ions.

Dose

• Normally Calcium need not be applied to the crop. However, it is being supplied with P in superphosphate.
• In acidic soils liming was found to be beneficial.

• A normal tobacco plant contains MgO to an extent of 0.8% of dry matter, 1.10% in the leaves and 0.35% in the stalk.

Deficiency symptoms

• Magnesium deficiency, called 'sand drown'. Magnesium-deficient leaf when cured, produces chlorotic area which are relatively dark and of uneven colour.

The leaf tends to be thin, dry and lifeless. Such a leaf when smoked produces dark coloured ash.

• It is observed that up to 2% Mg in the leaf improved burn of cigars and beyond that it had an adverse effect on this character.
• Supplying the soil with MgO fertilizer increases the total water-soluble carbohydrates and decreases the albumins and nictotine. The yield of dry matter in the leaves was considerably increased.
• In sandy loams of Karnataka and East and West Godavari Districts of Andhra Pradesh 12-15 kg of MgO in the form of dolomite is recommended to safeguard against Mg-deficiency which may sometimes occur under repeated irrigation or heavy rainfall.

• Symptoms of sulphur deficiency are very similar to and often mistaken for nitrogen deficiency. Deficiencies are most likely in the early stages of plant growth.
• When the plant is low in available nitrogen, the lower leaves are paler than the upper leaves and these lower leaves eventually burn-up.

However, sulphur deficiency plants are pale from top to bottom and lower leaves do not burn up. Sulphur deficiency can be partly corrected with side dress application of fertilisers such as potassium sulphate, magnesium sulphate, and ammonium sulphate.

• Sulphur deficiency symptoms rarely occur because most of the fertiliser applied to tobacco (Ammonium sulphate, single super phosphate and potassium sulphate) contains sulphur.
• Sulphur is highly leachable element and the available sulphur in soils is released from organic matter with high concentrations in lower horizons.
• Therefore, sulphur deficiencies are most likely to occur in the deep, sandy soils, which are low in organic matter.

• Micronutrients play a significant role in influencing the yield and quality of tobacco.
• Micronutrients act as a co-factors in several enzyme systems (like catalases, peroxidases, Polyphenol oxydases etc.) that bring about certain vital transformations during curing effecting the final quality of the leaf.
• It has been established by several investigators that the micronutrients when present in toxic or deficient quantities change the quality of the tobacco leaf. Gray tobacco is attributed to the toxic leaves of Fe, Mn and Zn.
• Copper deficiency causes metabolic changes in leaf at maturity, resulting in low total sugars and high total and protein nitrogen which leads to poor quality.
• Boron deficiency is considered injurious to leaf quality as it hinders the translocation on carbohydrates.
• Micronutrient status of tobacco growing areas in India revealed that the soils in general are having available mucronutrients higher than the critical limits except Zinc in southern light soils and boron in northern light soils.
• Also in some areas of northern light soils, Zn content of soil is marginally lower than the critical limits. In traditional black soils it is higher than the critical limits.
• In spite of low levels of micronutrients in some areas, the leaf analysis showed sufficient quantities of micronutrients.>

CHLORIDE

• Chloride is an essential micro-nutrients for tobacco plays an important role in influencing the leaf quality and leaf burn.
• One of the principle effects of chloride in growing leaf is to increase water content and turgor, which inturn tends to produce a larger, smoother and thinner leaf.
• When present in small quantities, it improves the yield and certain quality factors like color, moisture content and keeping quality.

Larger amount of chloride produces cured leaves of muddy and uneven color with excessive hygroscopicity and poor burn and such leaf is commonly known as saline leaf.

• The main sources of chloride supply are soil, fertilisers and irrigation water. Soils containing >100 ppm of chlorides are not suitable for tobacco cultivation. Irrigation waters containing <40 ppm are not suitable for irrigation.

Application of well decomposed farm yard manure at 2.5 tonnes per hectare six weeks before planting once in two years.

• Inorganic fertilizers at 40-45Kg N, 50Kg P205 and 50Kg K205 per hectare per year for Northern, Central and Southern black soils of Andhra Pradesh are recommended for light cast Varieties.
• Application of 20Kg N and 50Kg per hectare each of P205 and K2O in plant row plough furrow during 3^rd week of September either as straight or complex fertilizers is recommended for dark cast varieties of Central black soils.

• Well decomposed farm yard manure @ 2.5 tonnes/ha (or to substitute for 25% inorganic N), should be applied in plant row plough furrow along with inorganic fertilizer.
  
  
  

  Location	N	P	K	AS	CAN	DAP	SSP	SOP
  S.Light Soils	50	60	60	250	192	278	375	125
  S. Black soils	40	60	40	200	154	222	375	83

• Regarding sources of plant nutrients ammonium sulphate/DAP/CAN for N, superphosphate for P2O5 and potassium sulphate for potash should be used.
• Application of 25% N through organic source (FYM or castor cake ) and 75% through inorganic source is better than 100% N through inorganic source.
• Application of manures and fe rtilizers and markings for planting should be completed preferably between the last week of September and 2^nd week of October i.e. after the cessation of south - west monsoon and before.

Manuring

• Application of farm yard manure or filter press cake at 10-12 tonnes/ha or green manuring with sunnhemp (@ 50Kg seed/ha) for sandy soils and 6-7 tonnes/ha for heavy textured soils is beneficial. Application of inorganic fertilizers
• For a loamy soils @ 60Kg N, 80Kg P2O5, 80-100 Kg K2O and 15Kg MgO/ha
• sandy soils, 70Kg N, 60Kg P2O5, 100-120 Kg K2O and 15 Kg MgO/ha are recommended.

When straight fertilizers are to be applied

1st split	100% P2O5, 50% K2O and 25% of total N should be applied by band or dollop method 10cm away from the plant 10 days after planting.
2nd split	50% of N and the remaining K2O along with 15Kg Mgo (100Kg dolomite) to be applied 3-4 weeks after planting 10cm away from the plant. Dolomite should not be applied along with phosphatic fertilizer.
3rd split	Remaining 25% of N to be applied 40 days after planting by dollop method before ridging.

When DAP is applied

1st split	100% P2O5, 50% K2O and 50%N should be applied 10th day after planting by band or dollop method 10Cm away from the plant.
2nd split	50% K2O, 25% N and 15Kg Mgo (100 Kg dolomite) per hectare to be applied 20 days after planting 10cm away from the plant on the other side of the 1st split applied spot in order to avoid mixing of DAP with dolomite. It is better to apply dolomite along with organic manure.
3rd split	Remaining 25% of N to be applied 40 days after planting by dollop method before ridging.

• In order to make up the deficiencies of Ca and Mg, application of dolomitr @ 100 kg/ha along with second split (25th dat after planting) is recommended, it should be applied away from the placement point of superphospahte.

HDBRG Tobacco

• A total fertiliser mixture of 100, 50 and 50 kg/ha of N, P2O5 and K2O is appiled and covered firmly to make best utilisation of the applied fertilisers during September.

Natu tobacco

• Application of 60 kg N as groundnut cake along with 40 kg N as inorganic fertilisers applied at least three weeks before transplanting for rainfed crop.
• For the irrigated crop natu tobacco requires 300 kg N /ha, applied as groundnut cake to supply 50 kg N and the rest 250 kg through inorganic fertilisers

Lanka tobacco

• Apply 20 kg nitrogen, 50 kg phosphorus and 50 kg potash per hectare as a basal dose in the last ploughing and care should be taken to mix thoroughly in the soil.
• Later apply 280 kg nitrogen per hectare through urea in 3 splits doses at 30^th, 45^th and 65^th days after planting through dollop method that is 10 cm deep and 10 cm away from plant with the help of wooden peg.

Bidi tobacco

• Application of 180 kg N/ha ( 45 kg from FYM+90 kg from castor cake as basal and 45 kg from ammonium sulphate or urea) as top dressing or apply 15-20 tonnes of poultry mannure prior to seeding.

For Nipani

• Fertilise the crop with 120-60-40 kg NPK/ha

Chewing and hookah tobacco

• 170-50-50 kg N, P2O5 and K20/ha (50% N as oil cakes and remaining as inorganic fertiliser) in plant row plough furrow before planting was found suitable.

Chewing and cigar filler tobacco of Tamil Nadu

• 25 tonnes of neem seed cake or sheep penning followed by fertiliser dose of 75 kg, 50 kg P2O5 and 100 kg K2O is recommended for better quality leaf with good cigar burn score.

• A high yielding variety uses fertilizer more efficiently than local varieties at any level of fertilization, even in years of subnormal rainfall.

• Get your soil analysed and apply NPK fertilizers as per requirement of the crop.

• Complex fertilizers may be used for basal application. Unit cost of nutrient is less for complexes than for straight fertilizers. Potash should be applied as potassium sulphate only at all times of application.

• Use any of the straight 'N' fertilizer for topdressing.

• Nitrogen is best applied in split doses for getting maximum benefit. If applied at a time losses due to leaching volatilization may be high. Applied according to crop requirement during crop growth.

• Thorough incorporation is most essential when fertilizer is applied basally.

• In case of light soils have more split applications under irrigation.

• Under unirrigated conditions all fertilizers as basal dose.

• Proper nutrient balance need to be maintained in addition to application of N.

• Phosphorus is applied as basal dose. Application of phosphorus along with organic manure is beneficial.

• In light soils it is beneficial to apply nitrogen in 50 : 50 basis in Ammonical and nitrate forms.

• Potash is generally high in black soils and low to medium in light soils. It is applied in splits in light soils.

• In zinc deficient areas zinc sulphate should not be applied with phosphatic fertilizers. It can be applied 2-3 days before or after.

• In traditional black cotton soils, apply entire quantity of nitrogen as basal dose in plant row plough furrow.

• In light soils, apply nitrogen and potash in split doses and phosphorus as basal dose.

• Application of green manuring in situ or any organic manure and inorganic fertilizers in 25:75% basis is always advantageous in almost all the tobacco growing soils.