Fertigation

‘Fertigation’ is a fusion of two words: ‘fertilizer’ and ‘irrigation.’ Fertigation is the process of applying mineral fertilizers to crops along with the irrigation water. This word was first used in the USA to describe the bubbling of anhydrous ammonia into irrigation water; later, other fertilizers were applied through a sprinkler system. The widest use of fertigation is in drip irrigation. The concept of irrigation with dissolved nutrients dates back to Roman times, when city sewage was used to irrigate crops. The use of jute bags containing ammonium sulfate ((NH 4) 2SO 4) fertilizer at the entrance of canals and flood irrigation for banana crops has been used by growers in the Jordan Valley since the early 1930s. Mixing of micronutrients such as zinc sulfate (ZnSO 4) with a flood or furrow irrigation system is still in use in many developing countries, where farmers place bags of the soluble nutrients at the inlet of the irrigation water.