Various faulty farming practices and low-performance cultivars selection are reducing crop yields, factor productivity, and soil fertility. Therefore, there is an urgent need to achieve better nutrient dynamics and sustainable production by selecting more nutrient-responsive cultivars using efficient nutrient management. The present experiment aimed to enhance crop productivity, seed quality, nutrient efficiency, and soil nutrient dynamics through efficient nutrient management under different lentil cultivars. The experiment was laid out in a split-plot design, assigning three cultivars (viz. Sapna, Garima, and HM-1) in the main plots and ten nutrient management practices in the sub-plots, replicating them thrice. Results revealed that cultivar HM-1 recorded significantly higher seed yield (1.59–1.61 Mg ha^-1) and the uptake of N (67.2–67.6 kg ha^-1), P (6.8–7.0 kg ha^-1), K (13.8–13.9 kg ha^-1), Zn (60.4–61.1 g ha^-1), and Fe (162.5–165.2 g ha^-1) in seed compared to Sapna and Garima. Also, the cultivar HM-1 was more efficient in terms of partial factor productivity for NPK (PFP; 24.27–24.59 kg kg^-1), partial nutrient balance (PNB; 2.09–2.13 kg kg^-1) and internal utilisation efficiency (IUE; 11.64–11.85 kg kg^-1). The study showed that the lentil cultivar HM-1 could be successfully grown by substituting 50% RDN with organic manures,i.e., vermicompost, without compromising crop productivity and soil fertility, thereby sustaining soil-human-environment health.

Imbalanced and indiscriminate use of chemical fertilizers has been adversely influencing the quality of soil, environment, biodiversity and nutrient status in soil. Conjoint application of bio-inoculants (BI) with organic or inorganic sources of nutrients tweaks nutrient synchrony in soil and improves plant nutrition. With this backdrop an experiment was conducted at Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi during 2016–2018. The objectives were to identify the suitable combinations of BI-mediated nutrient sources for higher productivity and profitability in pigeon pea–wheat cropping system (PWCS). The nine pigeon pea treatments; four sole applications viz., recommended dose of fertilizers (RDF), vermicompost (VC), farm yard manure (FYM), leaf compost (LC) and four conjoint applications viz., RDF + BI, VC + BI, FYM + BI and LC + BI and one control were replicated thrice under randomized block design (RBD). However, in succeeding wheat, each of the treatments applied to pigeon pea was further allocated to two levels (50% and 100%) in factorial RBD. Findings exhibit that FYM + BI could result into higher equivalent-system grain productivity (10.4 and 10.8 t ha⁻¹ during 1st and 2nd year, respectively) of PWCS. However, profitability parameters of PWCS were higher with the RDF + BI. Uptake of nutrients (NPK) was significantly higher with FYM + BI in pigeon pea and RDF + BI in wheat. Nutrient harvest index (NHI) did not vary significantly in both the crops. Conclusively, bio-inoculation is more productive and beneficial in general, while, over the various combinations, recommendation of FYM + BI combination could be more productive and sustainable.