Organic Manures in Ralation to Soil Fertility
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KOMUNITAS BLOGGER UNIVERSITAS SRIWIJAYA
Crop residue management and Organic manure for maintaining the soil health Rajan Bhatt,
Assistant Professor (Soil Science), KVK Kapurthala Rajanbhatt79@rediffmail.com,
(9815963858) Soil fertility in relation to Ø Crop residue management: Proper disposal
or utilization of non-commercial residue of crop left in the field; these may be ploughed in to
improve the soil fertility or used as fuel. Preferably, they must be ploughed in the soil to
improve the soil fertility viz. Green manuring (as discussed earlier). 1. Bulky organic manure:
Under this title are included Ø Farm compost 1. Farm yard manure (FYM) 2. Town
compost 3. Night soil 4. Sewage and sludge A) Farm yard manure (FYM)::: India maintains
nearly 1/3rd of the world’s animal population and nearly 1/3rd of the Fram yard
manure is utilized as manure and most of this is being used for cooking the food. The term
FYM refers to the decomposed mixture of dung and urine of farm animals along with the litter
(Bedding Material) and left over material from the fodder fed to the cattles. FYM collected
daily from the cattle shed mainly consist of dung and urine soaked bedding material. FYM
mainly contains about 0.5 % N, 0.2 % P2O5 and 0.5 % K2O. For century this has been used
as manure in the field. Unfortunately, now a days around 50 % of cattle dung has been used
as fuel and is thus is a lost to agriculture. Table :1 Chemical composition of fresh excreta of
animals Excreta of Percentage of N P2O5 K2O Cows and bullocks Dung 0.40 0.20 0.10
Urine 1.00 Traces 1.35 Sheep and Goats Dung 0.75 0.50 0.45 Urine 1.35 0.05 2.10 Horses
Dung 0.55 0.30 0.40 Urine 1.35 Traces 1.25 Pigs Dung 0.55 0.50 0.40 Urine 0.40 0.10 0.45
Thus, urine of all animals contains more percentage of nitrogen, and potash, compared to
the dung portion. Table 2: Approximately quantity of dung and urine produced per head
annually Animals Dung produced per year (Cartload) Urine produced per year (Kerosene
tina) Bullocks 15.1 162 Cows 11.2 121 Sheep 0.8 10 Horses 20.1 126 Pigs 1.5 25 *Cartload
carries about 1000 pounds of dung and one kerosene tin contains about 40 pounds of urine.
Horses produced the maximum amount of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium in their dung
and urine. Dr. R.R.Agarwal has listed the following reasons for a small proportion of the
potential manorial reesourcees of the country being actually utilized as manure. 1. A large
proportion of the cattle dung is dropped outside the cattle shed while grazing. 2. A large
proportion of the dung is dried into dung cakes for cooking as a fuel. 3. The urine (Liquid
protion) is not properly conserved. 4. There is improper and wasteful fermentation of the
manure. 5. Leaching during the rains and drying the hot months in roadside heaps causes
considerable loss of the nutrients. Improved method of handling the Farmyard manure
Trench method: Dr. C. N Acharya recommends this method. Manure preparation should be
done in the trench of suitable size, say 20 to 25 ft long, 5 to 6 ft broad and 3 to 3.5 ft deep. All
available dry litter and refuse from the farm and the house should be heaped up near the
cattle-shed and portions of the litter mixed with earth if available, should be spread in the
shed in the evening, at the rate of 5 lb per animal for the absorption of urine. The litter should
be localized in the areas where urine generally drops and soaks into the ground. Each
morning, the urine soaked litter and dung should be well mixed and taken to the manure
trench. The trench is filled up by first taking 3ft into account and then next three ft. When, the
trench is filled in say about three months, then dug out another pit for filling. The manure in
the first pit is prepared in about three months which can be used directly for application to the
land and the similarly pit is used for preparing other manure. Factors influencing the
composition of the manure: Following factors affect the composition of the manure Source of
the manure Food of the animal Agee and condition of the animal Function of the animal
Manner of storage Nature of the litter Table 3: Percentage of different nutrients in straws
normally fed to animals Straw or stalks Percentage of different nutrients N P2O5 K2O Paddy
0.36 0.08 0.71 Wheat 0.53 0.10 1.10 Jowar 0.40 0.23 2.17 Maize 0.42 1.57 1.65 Bajra 0.65
0.75 2.50 Losses during handling and storage of FYM A. Losses during handling: FYM
consist of dung and urine portion. Approximately half of nitrogen and potash is in the dung
and other half is in the urine portion whereas around 96% of the phosphorus is in the solid
portion. Loss in the urine portion: Under Indian conditions, the kachha floor is unable to
conserve the liquid portion. Large quantities of the nitrogen are thus lost through the
formation of gaseous ammonia. Following reaction takes place CO(NH2)2 + 2H2O =
(NH4)2CO3 (Urea in urine) (Ammonium carbonate) Loss in the solid portion: Mostly through
the burning of the cakes for the cooking purpose and secondly large quantity of the dung is
dropped while grazing outside collection of which is not possible. B. Losses in handing:
Mainly through leaching, for which the water must has to pass through the manure and
secondly through volatilization of the ammonia and it’s compounds. Proper field
management: Normally the farmers adopt following two practices Mostly, the farmers unload
the FYM in small pits in their field before spreading which is left as such for a month or more.
Mostly, the farmers often plough the FYM in their fields after a few days of spreading.
However, both of these practices are faulty and lead to the loss of the nutrients through the
heating and drying. Thus, it is suggested to spreading and immediately mixing the FYM in
the soil for getting the maximum benefit out of it. Use of the chemicals as a preservative is
also found to have an effect on the loss of the nitrogen. Among different preservatives
Gypsum and Superphosphate are the important one. It is recommended that one to two
pounds of single superphosphate should be applied per day par animal in the cattle shed,
preferably at places where the urine mostly passed. B) Compost from farm and town refuse:
Composting is mainly a biological process, in which microorganisms of both aerobic and nonaerobic type decompose the organic matter and lowers the C/N ratio. The final product is the
well rotten manure known as compost. Because of having more organic matter and adding
more plant nutrients into the soil, the compost plays a significant role in improving and
maintaining the soil fertility as compared to the FYM. Normally, the following types of the
compost are prepared in India. Compost from the farm litter: Under this category, weeds,
stubble, bhusa, sugarcane trash etc. are converted into the compost manure on the farm
itself. Method of composting: A trench of suitable size around 15 to 20 ft long, 5 to 6 ft broad
and 3 to 36 ft deep is dung for preparation of the compost. About 1 ft thick layer of refuse is
spread all along the whole length of the trench which was well moistened by sprinkling the
mixture of the cowdung + water or earth + water. Add the refuse in trench till the heap rises
to a height of around 1 to 2 ft height. Top of this is covered by the thin layer of earth. After
three months of the decomposition, the entire mass is heaped in a conical form above the
ground and moistened with water if necessary and covered with earth. After one two months
the compost is ready to use in the fields. Thus a total of 4-5 months is required to prepare the
compost through this method. This compost mainly contains about 0.5 % N, 0.15 % P2O5
and 0.5 % K2O. Compost from the town refuses: Town refuse mainly contains night soil,
sewage, sludge, street and dustbin refuse.This refuse can be converted into the good quality
manure by adopting Banglore method of compost Banglore Method of compost preparation:
Trench of suitable size made according to the population size as shown in the table 4. Site
must be atleast two furlongs away from the town and should not made on the western side of
the town as the wind generally flows from the west to east for most part of the year. Table 4:
Population wise dimensions of the trench for compost preparation (Banglore method) Size of
the trench (ft) Population Length Breadth Width <5,000 15 5 2.5 5,000-10,000 20 6 3
10,000-20,000 25 6 3 20,000-50,000 30 7 3 >50,000 30 8 3.5 Trenches should be so
arranged that the longer sides are parallel and the shorter sides are in the same line by
keeping around 5 to 7 ft space in between the trenches. First, a layer of KATCHRA about 6
inches thick is spread on the bottom of the trench, with long handled rackes. Over this add
around 2 inches of the night soil, which is spread over the previous material. Thus the layer
of kachra and night soil added alternately. At the end of each day, the katchra is added to a
height of around 9 inches. Loose earth may be used to cover the top of heap around 2
inches height. This thick layer effectively checks the foul smell, conserve the moisture, avoid
nitrogen losses and minimizes nuisance of the flies. Trench on coming to the ground level, is
filled with kachra and earth, so that it rises one ft above ground level. In the rainy season, it is
preferred to made the top in dome shaped, so that rainwater will not enter into the trench and
flows out. In about 3 to 4 months, the manure is fully prepared for it’s application to
the land. This compost mainly contains about 1.4 % N, 1.0 % P2O5 and 1.4 % K2O.
Advantages of the Banglore method: It manily Kills weeds Control foul smell Highly hygienic
and sanitary. Avoids nitrogen losses Can be installed few furlongs away from the town. C)
Night Soil: Simply it is human excreta i.e. both solid and liquid. In China, from thousand of
years, it is applied to the soil for maintaining the fertility of the soil. Night soil is richer in
nutrients as compared to the FYM and compost. On oven dry basis, it has an average
chemical composition of: 5.5 % N, 4.0 % P2O5 and 2.0 % K2O. Poudrette System: Trench of
10 to 12 ft long, 2 to 3 ft wide and 9 inches to 1 ft deep are made. In these trenches, night
soil is deposited and covered over on top with a layer of earth or Kachra. The material
obtained from this trenches are as “Poudrette” on drying. However, mixing the
night soil with an equal amount of the ash and 10 % powdered charcoal produces an
odorless material containing 1.32 % nitrogen, 2.8 % Phosphoric acid, 4.1 % Potash and 24.2
% lime. Drawbacks of the poudrette system: Following are the some of the drawback of thee
poudrette system: Gives out lot of bad smell. Leads to fly breeding Special class of
“Bhangi” Are to be employed. Quantity of the produced manure is small as
compared to the FYM and compost. Large losses of the nitrogen are there. Improved method
of handling: It should be protected from the flies. It should not pollute the drinking water.
Attempt should be made to compost the night soil with other refuse. Pathogens, protozoa
cysts, worms and eggs should be destroyed. D) Sewage and sludge: In general sewage has
two components, ü Solid portion, technically known as sludge ü Liquid portion,
technically known as the sewage water. Both of these are used in increasing the crop
production as it contains the plant nutrients however, the use of untreated water is not
recommended. In the treatment, both the components are separated and are given a
preliminary fermentation and oxidation treatments to reduce the bacterial contamination, the
offensive smell and also to narrow down the C: N ratio of thee solid portion. 1) Sludge: Solid
portion is separated out and given the preliminary treatment before to used as a manure for
which it is stored in a septic tank to relieve it of the heavier portion of the solid matter also to
undergo a preliminary fermentation and oxidation of the organic matter in the fresh sewage,
thereby reducing the C: N ratio. Such a material is known as the “Activated
Sludge” is of inoffensive small and on dry weight basis contains up to 3 to 6 %
Nitrogen, about 2 % phosphorus and 1 % potassium in a from the can become readily
available when applied to the soil. A number of sludge methods are produced by thee
different methods of sewage treatment or preparation in different countries Settled Sludge,
produced by plain sedimentation Digested sludge, resulting from anaerobic decomposition of
sedimented sludge. Activated Sludge Digested activated sludge Chemically precipitated
sludge Sludge, in general rich in nitrogen and phosphorus while they are low in potash. Thee
principle value of the sludge as a manure lies in their slowly available nitrogen and
phosphorus. Sludge also act as a source of micronutrients such as Boron, Manganese,
Copper, Zinc and Iron. 2.) Sewage irrigation: After removing the sludge, the water is used, as
a source of irrigation is known as “Sewage Irrigation” which also supplies N, P
and K. The effluents from thee settling tanks with only anaerobic fermentation treatment, still
carries a large amount of thee objectionable colloidal matter. However with the aerobic
oxidation, the treated effluents as it is called, is a clear odorless liquid containing nitrate in
solution through which large no. Of pathogenic bacteria has been removed. Thus, both the
activated sludge and the effluent can be used with safely for manuring and irrigating all the
field crops except the vegetables, which are eaten raw or uncooked. Commonly raised crops
with irrigation water: Fodder ops like Oats, Jowar, Maize, Berseem and Lucern. Sugarcane
Vegetable crops like Cabbage, cauliflower, turnip, potato, bringal, Lady’s finger etc.
Irrigating with the sewage water is not advocated safe for raising all the crops. In general,
products which can be consumed raw mainly tomato, onion, garlic and carrot should not
raised by irrigating with the sewage water because of danger of spreading thee disease.
Thus , we can upgrade the health of our soil by using the above mentioned awys buit the
method of preparation should be correct band it is used at the exact amount which is
proposed for a particular type of the soil. DOWNLOAD