The role of fertilizers is to increase yield and ensure healthy produce by supplying the right balance of nutrients to the soil. "Without fertilizers, the soil would be depleted and therefore plants would be particularly difficult to grow. They cannot survive on water alone, and nor can we. https://www.yara.com/knowledge-grows/five-important-facts-about-fertilizers/

Fertilizers replace the nutrients that crops remove from the soil. Without the addition of fertilizers, crop yields and agricultural productivity would be significantly reduced. That’s why mineral fertilizers are used to supplement the soil’s nutrient stocks with minerals that can be quickly absorbed and used by crops. Thus, in order to meet human nutritional needs in the crops and meat we eat, we need to replace what we take out. The key is to get this balance right and to maintain a level of nutrients in soils that will support our crops without applying excess. https://www.yara.com/crop-nutrition/why-fertilizer/feeding-the-world/

Because ferttlizes are supplying essentionl elements reqired for better crop growth development thereby increading biomass yield

Soils naturally contain many nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorous, calcium, and potassium. These nutrients allow plants to grow. When soil nutrients are missing or in short supply, plants suffer from nutrient deficiency and stop growing. When the nutrient level is too low, the plant cannot function properly and produce the food necessary to feed the worlds’ population. The soil requires the regular maintenance of its fertility. Naturally, soil comprises of very fine rocks, different types of minerals, and organic matter due to the decomposition of the biological species. The proper tillage/tilth is supported by sand, minerals, and organic matter but these do not help in supporting and maintaining adequate amounts of food for the plant required for its nourishment and growth.

Boosting growth: One element known for its ability to boost plant growth is Nitrogen. It’s also a greening agent. Fertilizers rich in nitrogen are preferred because of their aforementioned advantages

Dr Arun Ji thank you very much for sharing valuable information

Fertilizers are essential for crops because they provides nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium which help crops to grow faster, bigger and to produce more food.

At the same time farmers should prefer Biofertilizers over chemical fertilizers. Biofertilizers are not harmful. They contain organic materials while chemical fertilizers are made up of harmful chemicals. Biofertilizers do not reduce the fertility of the soil.

All researchers here have mentioned exact to the point statements about the benefits of applying fertilizers for better crop yield. So, I just hereby send the link of two related publications and I hope they may be helpful.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048969721071497

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11104-021-05276-2

Continuous cultivation for thousands of years without leaving land to be fallow has resulted in soils losing fertility (nutrients) and hence the need for fertilizers.

Synthetic fertilisers supply a high concentration of plant/ soil nutrients in a short period of time, which boost plant mineral uptake. This is important for the healthy and rapid growth of the plants.

High-yielding cereal crops and hybrid varieties require a high amount of nutrients, that can only be provided by synthetic fertilisers.

I opined that without synthetic fertilisers we cannot feed the world!

Nitrogen fertilisers are critical determinants of yield. Please see:

https://doi.org/10.1111/aab.12585

Fertilizers replace the nutrients that crops remove from the soil. Without the addition of fertilizers, crop yields and agricultural productivity would be significantly reduced. That’s why mineral fertilizers are used to supplement the soil’s nutrient stocks with minerals that can be quickly absorbed and used by crops.

Thus, in order to meet human nutritional needs in the crops and meat we eat, we need to replace what we take out. The key is to get this balance right and to maintain a level of nutrients in soils that will support our crops without applying excess.

for more relevant information please go through this link:https://www.yara.com/crop-nutrition/why-fertilizer/feeding-the-world/#:~:text=Fertilizers%20replace%20the%20nutrients%20that,absorbed%20and%20used%20by%20crops.

Increasing population demands more food and all other living things required world over. Limited area and more demand comes to more production from less area and less resources. For this fertilizer is the important major option, of course improved varieties will do a lot.

We mine minerals every time we harvest a crop and so we need to replenish through fertilizers.

Essential soil nutrients like phosphorous, potassium, nitrogen, calcium, Sulphur, magnesium and others will depleted as the land cultivated other the years. So, we are expected to replace these minerals using fertilizer.

So far as food is vital for humanity and animals, so is fertilizer to crop. Crops need specific fertilizers for their growth and yield, the same way man like some foods and reject others for their survival. Whatever nutrient we get from crops is majorly what they got from the soils and through fertilizer application, we replace those elements back to the soils. In all, a crop does not just need all fertilizers but particular fertilizers for their growth and yield.

From my point of view ”why does application of fertilizer is important for better crop yield” because we knew that the soil rich with nutrients for plant growth, but we dont know the availability of nutrients in the soil, thus when we run an analysis and we found which nutrient element is less or unavailable so we apply the fertilizer for the crop to uptake.

Plants require 17 essential elements for growth: carbon (C), hydrogen (H), oxygen (O), nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), sulfur (S), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), boron (B), chlorine (Cl), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), molybdenum (Mo), nickel (Ni), and zinc (Zn). Deficiencies in these elements may arise due to various plant and environmental factors leading to a drop in crop yield and quality. This is the essence of applying both organic and inorganic fertilizers to crops.

Fertilizer is easy way to supply nutrient to plant that is reason why farmer used it and another reason is our national food security. Fertilizer supply nutrient immediately after its application and plant uptake it easily and nutrient available in very short period of time.

Dear Rk Naresh . They replace the nutrients that crops remove from the soil. Without fertilizers, crop yields and agricultural productivity would be reduced. This is why mineral fertilizers are used to supplement the soil's nutrient stocks with minerals that can be quickly absorbed and used by crops. See the link: https://www.yara.com/crop-nutrition/why-fertilizer/feeding-the-world/#:~:text=Fertilizers%20replace%20the%20nutrients%20that,absorbed%20and%20used%20by%20crops.

Kindly see also the following useful links: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1755-1315/250/1/012048/pdf

https://www.google.com/amp/s/soilsmatter.wordpress.com/2015/03/18/why-do-farmers-use-fertilizers/amp/

https://www.topcropmanager.com/the-role-of-fertilizer-in-growing-the-worlds-food-10387/

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-01412-0

There is no need to explain the usefulness of fertilizers.

It all depends on what type of fertilizers are used and the amount that is used.

Fertilizer application must be combined with other improved management practices if the full yield is to be obtained, particularly in rain-fed crops. Unless other conditions of growth are optimum, limiting factors like pests, diseases, and weeds tend to have major depressing effects on growth and yield. Soil and water conservation measures, optimum plant population, and effective management of pests, weeds, and diseases contribute substantially to improved fertilizer use efficiency. Tandon (1980) showed that improved management practices could give a tenfold increase in the yield of sorghum and increase fertilizer use efficiency 3.5 times.

Fertilizers are the industrial manufactured chemical synthetic substances, applied in soil, to provide essential nutrients required for their growth, development, establishment and overall survival...These applied fertilizers get hydrolyzed after coming in contact with soil moisture and get mineralised by which ionic form of nutrients are released in very fast manner so that crop plants may utilise efficiently...Fast release of nutrients, sufficient amount of nutrients released and also fast response of crop to these applied synthetic chemical fertilizers results in fast, vigorous, and healthy vegetative and reproductive growth of the crop plants giving higher biomass production hence good yield and productivity.. However, application of these fertilizers along with organic ammendment or green manuring or any other non chemical sustainable approach so called integrated nutrient approaches are also viable and may provide good production potential of the crops while minimising the dependence on the synthetic fertilizers to a greater extent usually 50% substitution....Again these fertilizers are easily available in the market and also cost effective as compared to the organic manures...Again these fertilizers are having higher percent of nutrients as compared to Organic matter like in urea(46%N) and in FYM (only 0.5% N)...Precise application of these fertilizers based on soil test values fulfilling 3R principles give higher yield and productivity besides minimising cost incurred and eliminating the chances of deterioration of soil fertility and ecology....

Let us remember that plants require 16 essential elements, 3 obtained from water & air (C,H,O), the remaining 13 are supplied by soils. The 13 are harvested alongside crop produce, and must therefore be replaced through fertilizers, by the human-being who harvested them.

I agree with Dr Himanshu Verma, that chemical fertilizers allow growers to maximize their crop yield on a specific piece of land the more the plant grows the better. Fertilizer works to ensure that each piece of land produces as efficiently as possible. Farmers turn to fertilizers because these substances contain plant nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Fertilizers are simply plant nutrients applied to agricultural fields to supplement required elements found naturally in the soil. To retain soil fertility it is necessary to replenish nutrients by returning to the soil at least the same amount. So we use fertilizers which contains the essential nutrients. Fertilizers provide plants with the essential chemical elements needed for growth particularly nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Some of these impacts include algae blooms causing the depletion of oxygen in surface waters, pathogens and nitrates in drinking water, and the emission of odors and gases into the air. Nutrients from manure and fertilizers enter lakes and streams through runoff and soil erosion. Fertilizers boost crop yields, but their excessive usage has hardened the soil, reduced fertility, strengthened insecticides, polluted air and water, and emitted greenhouse gases, creating health and environmental risks. Fertilizers have been used since the start of agriculture. Fertilizers provide crops with nutrients like potassium, phosphorus, and nitrogen, which allow crops to grow bigger, faster, and to produce more food. Nitrogen in particular is an essential nutrient for the growth of every organism on Earth.