Comparison of fertilizer type and usage for fruit crops cultivation of Korea in 2018 and 2022

South Korea is one of countries that have high application rate of inorganic fertilizer and is known to cause significant environmental issues.The inorganic fertilizer to the soil has led to a nutrient supply that exceeds the nutrient requirements of crops, resulting in an excess of nutrients in agricultural soil.Hence, many agricultural policies have been legislated to reduce the fertilizer application rate since the 1990s.In this study, we investigated changes of fertilizer type and usage on fruit crops (pear, grape, apple, peach, jujube, persimmon, kiwi) in 2018 and 2022.In results, the average of total fertilizer inputs (N-P 2 O5-K 2 O) increased to 15.0-6.1-4.5 kg 10a -1 in 2022.Based on N, the total fertilizer usage of jujube was higher than other crops in 2018 and 2022.Moreover, the fertilizer usage for all crops exceeded the recommended levels.The order of contribution to total fertilizer use was compost > organic fertilizer > inorganic fertilizer.As a result, a primary concern of excess and use of fertilizers was focused on compost and organic fertilizers.Because of the high nutrient content of compost, the application rate of compost should be controlled and monitored.Therefore, the proper training and monitoring is required to reserve environmental sustainability and understand nutrient characteristics of fertilizer in fruit crop cultivation.