Fertilizers are widely used in agriculture to maintain soil fertility and to increase crop

yields. Fertilizer is any organic or inorganic material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied
through soil or leaves to the plants to supply nutrients essential to the growth and productivity.
Before the Green Revolution, natural and traditional farming methods were adopted for
cultivation, which involved natural methods of maintaining soil fertility and controlling crop pests.
Consequently, upon Green Revolution commendable agricultural production has been achieved
mainly due to increased use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and farm machinery. Fertilizers facilitated
higher yields on less crop area than without the use of fertilizers; therefore, they are considered
important elements in worldwide food production. As the population continues to grow, more
and more agricultural output will be required, and fertilizers will play a vital role (Clark and Kelly, 2004).

Soil is vital natural resource on which life supporting system of a country and the socio-
economic development of its people depends. Soils provide food, fodder and fuel to meet the
basic needs of human and animal. India is the seventh largest nation in the world with a
geographical area of 328.7 million hectare and more than 1000 million people. Agriculture is the
foundation of the Indian economy, which contributes about 22 percent of gross domestic product
from 141 million hectare cultivated area. Rapid increase in population of India has necessitated
parallel increase in food grain production. Out of total geographical area of the India, about 50% is
already under cultivation (which is about five times more than the international average of 11%). This
indicates that in India, there is no more land to bring under cultivation and the capacity of the Indian soil
to produce is limited because of intrinsic characteristics of soil and soil management. Food-grain
production in India more than doubled itself during the post-Green Revolution. However, overuse of
chemical fertilizers, pesticides, especially in vegetables and fruit plants, resulted in residues above
safety levels (Agnihotri, 1999) and showed ill-effects; even drinking water is not spared (Anonymous,
2004).These ill effects due to overuse of nitrogenous fertilizers were recognized even in Europe and
USA. These ill effects of modern agriculture forced people, especially in countries with high-
income economies to demand food grown without chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Growing
awareness of health and environmental issues in agriculture has demanded production of organic
food, which is emerging as an attractive source of rural income generation, and this paved the
way for organic farming (Prasad, 2005).

The land in India is suffering from varying degrees of degradation. Soil fertility depletion is
a cause of concern for Indian agriculture. The soil analysis results provided valuable information about
the distribution pattern of plant nutrients in Indian soils. The available information reflects the fact
that the Indian soils are poor in major as well as minor nutrients. It was observed that after 1960,
micronutrients deficiencies; especially of Zn and Fe were noticed in light textured soils of India.
Later on, multiple nutrient deficiencies were reported in crops within a period of 1960 to 2005.
Despite application of adequate quantity of NPK, the yield remained low due to hidden hunger of
micronutrients like Zn, Fe, Cu, Mn and B. (Singh, 2001)

The problem has been compounded by soil acidity affecting large area in eastern and
southern states and soil alkalinity commonly observed in northwestern states as crops grown on
such soils encounter nutritional disorders and toxicities. National Food Security Mission (NFSM) of
Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of India, has endeavored to address these constraints by creating
awareness among farmers and promoting use of soil ameliorants and micronutrients in major states of
the country. Use of fertilizers and manures is a key factor to sustain fertility of the soil. Fertilizers
being a costly input, the scientific approach towards the profitable agriculture would imply
the supplemental use of plant nutrients according to the actual need of the situation (Agboola and
Ray, 1994; Vincent et al., 2005) the soil in available form. Soil reaction also affects available nutrient
status of the soil. Scientific observations have shown that there is no relation between the total
nutrient content of the soil and availability of nutrients to the plant roots. The total nutrient content
of a soil may be high, but the availability is very low. Therefore, using total soil composition as a guiding
criterion for estimating the availability of nutrient status is incorrect. The major reason for the
widespread occurrence of deficiency of micronutrients is the low availability of micronutrients to
plant roots rather than their low concentration in soils. The low solubility of most micronutrient
cations like copper (Cu), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), and zinc (Zn) in soils means that after the addition
to alkaline soil as the soluble form, the metal is rapidly precipitated. Even in rainfed areas, micronutrient
deficiencies are more prevalent (Srinivasarao and Vittal,2007).

To reduce reactions and precipitation of micronutrients and maintain them in soluble form in
soil, chelation of these nutrients with chelating agents is the only solution. Chelating agents or
chelators are organic compounds that bind the metals, avoid their precipitation in soil thus increase
their water solubility (Wallace, 1963) and plant availability. Common chelators are ethylene
diamine tetra acetic acid (EDTA) and dimethyl tetraamine penta acetic acid (DTPA) and these
molecules increase micronutrient solubility through reversal of charge on the metal. It is well known
that both EDTA and DTPA increase the solubility of micronutrient cations in soil (Lindsay and Norvell,
1978; Elgawhary et al., 1970a; Elgawhary et al., 1970b).

However, the high mobility of these compounds raised concerns regarding their potential
use in industrial chemicals due to their ability to transport heavy metals in the environment. Though
EDTA and DTPA have an excellent ability to retain micronutrient cations in soluble forms, the
form in which micronutrient exists in solution is however, not readily available for uptake by plant
roots. It is well known that plants absorb micronutrient cations through defined metal transporters
in theplant root membrane that principally recognize the free metal cation M2+.
Thesetransporters do not recognize all complexed forms of micronutrients (an exception would be
Fe-phytosiderophore). Indeed, addition of EDTA or DTPA to nutrient solutions markedly depresses
the uptake of micronutrients by the plant due to complexation of the free metal cation (M2+).
Thus, the efficiency of chelates such as EDTA-metal and DTPA-metal in terms of improving crop nutrition
is compromised by poor ability of the complexed forms of micronutrient to be absorbed by plant roots
(Halvorson and Lindsay, 1977; Laurie et al., 1991a; Laurie et al., 1991b).

EDTA-micronutrient chelates when applied through leaves also showed negative effects
in plants because EDTA from strong bonding with metal and make it plant unavailable. In addition,
EDTA can solve one plant nutrient deficiency and at the same time cause deficiency of another.
Furthermore, EDTA is known to take calcium from cell walls in plants. Plants losing calcium in this
manner (primarily from their cell walls) visually manifest the loss as wilting. On the other hand, foliar
fertilizers as chelate should be easily absorbed by plants; rapidly transported and should easily
release their ions to affect the plant growth (Larue and Hohnson, 1989). Amino acids are
moderately strong chelating agents, micronutrients chelated using amino acids remain in soluble forms
and readily absorbed by plants. Amino acids are recognized by the plant as building blocks and are
used in nearly every tissue in the plant, hence, they enter inside the plant and release mineral,
and plant uses left over amino acids as a source of water-soluble nitrogen. Considering above
revealed views in mind, an experiment was conducted to formulate amino acid chelated micronutrient
fertilizer with the following objectives.