Manuring (Biomanuring)

Manuring (Biomanuring)

Organic manures are predominantly derived from plant debris, animal faeces and microbes. They make the soil fertile by adding nutrients like nitrogen. Few of them are listed below.

1. Animal manure

It consists of faeces and urine from livestocks like cattle, horses, pigs, sheep, chickens, turkeys, rabbits, etc. Manures from different animals have different qualities and different applications.

a.  Farmyard manure

It is a mixture of cattle dung, urine, litter material and other dairy wastes. On an average well decomposed farm yard manure contains 0.5% Nitrogen, 0.2% available phosphate and 0.5% available potash.

b.  Sheep and Goat manure

It contains higher nutrients than farm yard manure. It contains 3% Nitrogen, 1% phosphorus pentoxide and 2% potassium oxide.

2. Compost

Compost is a soil conditioner as well as a fertilizer, which is rich in nutrients. It is produced by natural decomposition of organic matter such as crop residues, animal wastes, food wastes, industrial and municipal wastes by microorganisms under controlled conditions.

Vermicompost is the method of making compost with the use of earthworms, which generally live in soil. They eat biomass and excrete it in digested form. This compost is generally called vermicompost.

3.  Green manure

Green manure is obtained by collection and decomposition of green leaves, twigs of trees, shrubs and herbs growing in wastelands, field bunds etc. Green manure improves soil structure, increases water holding capacity and decreases soil loss by erosion. It also helps in reclamation of alkaline soils and reduces weed proliferation. It is a manure obtained from undecomposed green material derived from leguminous plants e.g. Sunhemp (Crotolaria juncea), Dhaincha (Sesbania aculeata), Sesbania (Sesbania speciosa).