About 62% of Indian arid zone lies in western Rajasthan where low annual rainfall and its erratic distribution result in widespread and recurring droughts of varying intensity and magnitude. Crops in the arid and semi - arid area suffer form both moisture and nutrient stresses. As nutrient and water requirements are intimately linked therefore, the interaction between soil moisture deficits and nutrient uptake that is of paramount importance has been extensively studied. Our investigations have established significant positive response of plants of these zones to improved soil fertility. However, the degree of yield response varied with rainfall pattern, drought intensity and crop species. Advantages of fertilizer application under arid conditions might be realized in situations where both dry and wet phase exist during the growing period. However, the benefits of nutrients under such conditions are generally less than in well irrigated crops. Fertility-induced metabolic efficiency coupled with higher photo synthetic and nitrate reductase activity are considered to be the control mechanisms for enhanced growth and yield of rainfed crops. Studies suggested that tissue hydrature was not an infallible index of metabolic efficiency as nutritional status of plants was more critical under water deficits for leaf metabolism, photosynthesis,growth and yield in different crops where nitrogen moisture interactions were explored. Alleviation of drought effects in arid legumes has been achieved though phosphorous (P) application which favourably modulated various physiological and biochemical processes. Similarly, applied potassium (K) mitigates the adverse effect of water stress by favourable influencing internal tissue moisture, photosynthetic rate and nitrogen metabolism in legumes. Thus significant yield improvement can be obtained even under low soil moisture conditions through adequate nutrient management.