Assignment

On

PRODUCTION POTENTAIL OF DIFFERENT

COMPONENT OF ORGANIC FARMING

Submitted To:
Dr. K. B. Ashodariya
Assistant Research Sci.
Vegetable Research Station
J. A. U. Junagadh.

Submitted By:
Bodar Kishan H.
Reg. No. 1010115004
Deptt. Of Ag, Chem. & Soil Sci.
College of Agriculture
J.A.U., Junagadh.
Definition of organic farming

“Organic farming is a system which avoids or largely excludes the use

of synthetic inputs (such as fertilizers, pesticides, hormones, feed additives
etc) and to the maximum extent feasible rely upon crop rotations, crop
residues, animal manures, off-farm organic waste, mineral grade rock
additives and biological system of nutrient mobilization and plant
protection”.

Need of organic farming

 Increase in population our compulsion would be not only to stabilize

agricultural production but to increase it further in sustainable
manner.
 Natural balance needs to be maintained at all cost for existence of life
and property.
 Agrochemicals which are produced from fossil fuel and are not
renewable and are diminishing in availability. It may also cost heavily
on our foreign exchange in future.

The key characteristics of organic farming

 Protecting the long term fertility of soils by maintaining organic matter

levels, encouraging soil biological activity, and careful mechanical
intervention.
 Providing crop nutrients indirectly using relatively insoluble nutrient
sources which are made available to the plant by the action of soil
micro-organisms.
 Nitrogen self-sufficiency through the use of legumes and biological
nitrogen fixation, as well as effective recycling of organic materials
including crop residues and livestock manures.
 Weed, disease and pest control relying primarily on crop rotations,
natural predators, diversity, organic manuring, resistant varieties and
limited (preferably minimal) thermal, biological and chemical
intervention.
 The extensive management of livestock, paying full regard to their
evolutionary adaptations, behavioral needs and animal welfare issues
with respect to nutrition, housing, health, breeding and rearing.
Components of Organic Farming:

Major components of organic farming are crop rotation, maintenance

and enhancement of soil fertility through biological nitrogen fixation,
addition of organic manure and use of soil microorganisms, crop residues,
bio-pesticide, biogas slurry, waste etc. Vermiculture has become a major
component in biological farming, which is found to be effective in enhancing
the soil fertility and producing large numbers of horticultural crops in a
sustainable manner. The various components of organic farming have been
discussed in details below:

1. Crop rotation:

It is a systematic arrangement for the growing of different crops in a

more or less regular sequence on the same land covering a period of two
years or more. The selection of optimal crop rotation is important for
successful sustainable agriculture. Crop rotation is very important. Soil
fertility management, weed, insect and disease control. Legumes are
essential in any rotation and should 30 to 50 percent of the land. A mixed
cropping, pasture and livestock system is desirable or even essential for the
success of sustainable agriculture.
2. Crop Residue:

In India there is a great potential for utilization of crop residues/

straw of some of the major cereals and pulses. About 50% of the crop
residues are utilized as animal fed, the rest could be very well utilized for
recycling of nutrients. Adequate care is required to use the residues after
proper composting with efficient microbial inoculants. While the
incorporation of crop residues e.g. Wheat and Rice straw, as such or
inoculated with fungal species had beneficial effects on crop yields and
important in physico-chemical properties of soil.

3. Organic manure:

The organic manure is derived from biological sources like plant,

animal and human residues. Organic manure act in many ways in
augmenting crop growth and soil productivity. The direct effect of organic
manure relates to the uptake of humic substances or its decomposition
products affecting favourably the growth and yield of plants. Indirectly, it
augments the beneficial soil microorganisms and their activities and thus
increases the availability of major and minor plant nutrients.

a) Bulky organic manure: It generally contains fewer amounts of plant

nutrients as compared to concentrated organic manure. It includes FYM,
compost and Green manure.

 FYM: It refers to the well-decomposed mixture of dung, urine, farm

litter and left over or used up materials from roughages or fodder fed
to the cattle. The waste material of cattle shed consisting of dung and
urine soaked in the refuse is collected and placed in trenches about 6
m long, 2 m wide and 1 m deep. Each trench is filled up to a height of
about 0.5 m above the ground level and plastered over with slurry
cowdung and earth. The material is allowed to decompose
undisturbed 3-4 months for anaerobic microorganism for completion
of fermentation. FYM becomes ready to apply after 3-4 months. Well-
rotted FYM contains 0.5% N, 0.2% P205 and 0.5% K2O.
 Compost: Large quantities of waste material are available as vegetable
refuse, farm litter, such as weeds, stubble, bhusa, sugarcane trash,
Sewage sludge and animal waste in houses and in areas like human
and industrial refuse; therefore, excreta can be converted into useful
compost manure by conserving and subjecting these to a controlled
process of anaerobic decomposition. Compost is used in the same way
as FYM and is good for application to all soils and all crops.
  Green Manuring: It is a practice of ploughing or turning into the soil
undercomposed green plant tissues for the purpose of improving
physical structure as well as fertility of the soil. From the time
immemorial the turning in a green crop for improvement of the
conditions of the soil has been a popular farming practice. Green
Manuring, wherever feasible, is the principal supplementary means of
adding organic matter to the soil. It consists of the growing of quick
growing crop and ploughing it under to incorporate it into the soil. The
green manure crop supplies organic matter as well as additional
nitrogen, particularly if it is a legume crop, which has the ability to fix
nitrogen from the air with the help of its root-nodule bacteria. A
leguminous crop producing 25 tones of green matter per hectare will
add about 60 to 90 kg of nitrogen when ploughed under. This amount
would equal an application of 3 to 10 tones of FYM on the basis of
organic matter and its nitrogen contribution. The green manure crops
also exercise a protective action against erosion and leaching. The
most commonly used green manuring crops are: Sunhemp (Crotalaria
juncea),Dhaincha (Sesbania aculeata), Cluster bean (Cyamopsis
tetragonoloba), Senji (Melilotus parviflora), Cowpea (Vigna catjang,
Vigna sinensis), Berseem (Trifolium alexandrium).

b) Concentrated Organic Manure: Concentrated organic manures are those

materials that are organic in nature and contain higher percentage of
essential plant nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorous and potash, as
compared to bulky organic manures. These concentrated manures are made
from raw materials of animal or plant origin. The concentrated organic
manures commonly used are oilcakes, blood meal, fishmeal, meat meal and
horn and hoof meal.

4. Waste:

1. Industrial waste: Among the industrial by products, spent wash from

distilisers and molasses and pressmud from sugar industry have good
manurial value. It is important to use only well decomposed pressmud
at 10 tones/ha. Addition of pressmud improves the soil fertility and
enhances the activity of microbes. Coir waste is the by-product from
coir industry and can be used as manure after proper decomposition.
2. Municipal and Sewage waste: It also forms an important component
of organic waste. In India, the total municipal refuse is about 12
mt/annum containing about 0.5% N, 0.3% P2O5 and 0.3% K2O.
Sewage sludge is available to an extent of 4 million tones per annum
containing 3% N, 2% P and 0.3% K (Bharadwaj and Gaur, 1985).
Sewage sludge particularly from industrialized cities is contaminated
 with heavy metals and these pose hazards to plants, animals and
human beings. Separation of the toxic waste at the source will
minimize the concentration of such elements in the sludge.

5. Biofertilizers:

It has been observed that there is decline in crop yield due to

continuous apply of inorganic fertilizers. Therefore, increasing need is being
felt to integrate nutrient supply with organic sources to restore the health of
soil. Bio-fertilizer offers an economically attractive and ecologically sound
means of reducing external inputs and improving the quality and quantity of
internal sources. Bio-fertilizer is microorganism's culture capable of fixing
atmospheric nitrogen when suitable crops are inoculated with them. The
main inputs are microorganisms, which are capable of mobilizing nutritive
elements from non-usable form to usable form through biological process.
These are less expensive, eco-friendly and sustainable. The beneficial
microorganisms in the soil that are greater significance to horticultural
situations are biological nitrogen fixers, phosphate solubilisers and
mycorrhizal fungi.

The Biofertilizers containing biological nitrogen fixing organism are of

utmost important in agriculture in view of the following advantages:

 They help in establishment and growth of crop plants and trees.

 They enhance biomass production and grain yields by 10-20%.
 They are useful in sustainable agriculture.
 They are suitable organic farming.
 They play an important role in Agroforestry / silvipastoral systems.

Types of Biofertilizers: There are two types of bio-fertilizers.

1. Symbiotic N-fixation: These are Rhizobium culture of various strains

which multiply in roots of suitable legumes and fix nitrogen symbiotically.
Almost 50% demands of N are met by these microorganisms in legumes.

 Rhizobium: It is the most widely used biofertilizers, which colonizes

the roots of specific legumes to form tumours like growths called rot
nodules. It is these nodules that act as factories of ammonia
production. The Rhizobium legume association can fix upto 100-300
kg N/ha in one crop season.

2. Asymbiotic N-fixation: This includes Azotobacter, Azospirillium, BGA,

Azolla and Mycorrhizae, which also fixes atmospheric N in suitable soil
medium. They grow on decomposing soil organic matter and produce
nitrogen compounds for their own growth and development, besides that
they leave behind a significant amount of N in surroundings.

 Azotobacter: Application of Azotobactor has been found to increase

the yields of wheat, rice, maize, pearl millet and sorghum by 0-30%
over control. The beneficial effect of Azotobactor biofertilizers on
cereals, millets, vegetables, cotton and sugarcane under both irrigated
and rainfed field conditions have been substantiated and documented
(Pandey and Sushil Kumar, 1989). Apart from nitrogen this organism
is also capable of producing antibacterial and anti-fungal compounds,
hormones and siderophores.
 Azospirillium: It is an important bacterium, which colonize the root
zones and fix nitrogen in loose association with plants. The crops
which response to Azospirillum is maize, barley, oats, sorghum, pearl
millet and forage crop. Azospirillum applications increase gain
productivity of cereals by 5-20%, of millets by 30% and of fodder by
over 50%.
 Blue Green Algae: The utilization of blue-green algae as biofertilizers
for rice is very promising. Recent researches have shown that algae
also help to reduce soil alkalinity and this opens up possibilities for
bio-reclamation of such inhospitable environments.
 Azolla: A small floating fern, Azolla is commonly seen in low land
fields and in shallow fresh water bodies. This fern harbours blue-
green algae, anabaena azollae. The Azolla anabaena association is a
live floating nitrogen factory using energy from photosynthesis to fix
atmospheric nitrogen amounting to 100-150 kg N/ha/year from about
40-64 tones of biomass (Hamdi, 1982; Singh, 1988).
 Mycorrhizae: Mycorrhizae are the symbiotic association of fungi with
roots of Vascular plants. The main advantage of Mycorrhizae to the
host plants lies in the extension of the penetration zone of the root
fungus system in the soil, facilitating an increased phosphorous
uptake. In many cases the Mycorrhizae have been shown to markedly
improve the growth of plants. In India, the beneficial effects of
Vascular-arbuscular Mycorrhizae (VAM) have been observed in fruit
crops like citrus, papaya and litchi. Recent studies showed the
possibility of domesticating Mycorrhizae in agricultural system
(Hayman, 1982; Tilak, 1987).

6. Bio-pesticide:

Bio-pesticides are natural plant products that belong to the so-called

secondary metabolites, which include thousands of alkaloids, terpenoids,
phenolics and minor secondary chemicals. These substances have usually
no known function in photosynthesis, growth or other basic aspects of plant
physiology; however, their biological activity against insects, nematodes,
fungi and other organisms is well documented.

Botanical insecticides are ecologically and environmentally safer

generally affect the behaviour and physiology of insects rather than killing
them. Among the botanical pesticides investigated. Neem (Azadirachta
indica) has justifiably received the maximum attention. All parts of the Neem
tree possess insecticidal property but seed kernel is most active.

Biopesticides and other preparations of plant origin used in

agriculture seem to have a good scope especially in view of the
environmental problems being faced with the synthetic agrochemical. Some
of the commonly used botanical Insecticides are Nicotine, Pyrethrum,
Rotenone, Subabilla, Ryanin, Quassia, Margosa, Acorus etc. Their used
need to be promoted under the Integrated Pest management Programmes.

7. Vermicompost:

It is organic manure produced by the activity of earthworms. It is a

method of making compost with the use of earthworms that generally live in
soil, eat biomass and excrete it in digested form. It is generally estimated
that 1800 worms which is an ideal population for one sq. meter can feed on
80 tones of humus per year. These are rich in macro and micronutrients,
vitamins, growth hormones and immobilized microflora. The average
nutrient content of vermicompost is much higher than that of FYM. It
contains 1.60% N, 5.04% P2O and 0.80% K2O with small quantities of
micronutrients. Application of vermicompost facilitates easy availability of
essential plant nutrients to crop.

Preparation: Preparation of vermicompost has been described by

Purkayastha and Bhatnagar (1997). A tank of 4 x l x l m is constructed with
brick line in a shaded place. The bottom of the tank (about 5.0 cm) is made
up of pieces of brick, stone chips and sand. This will facilitate easy drainage
of water. Soil is spread over this to a thickness about 15cm. About 4-5 kg of
diluted dung may also be applied. About 100 numbers of locally available
worm species are placed over the vermibed. It should be moistured without
flooding. A layer of (about 10 cm) straw, leaves of plants, kitchen waste etc
are spread over this layer. This can be continued till the bed is completely
filled. Liquid cowdung suspension is then applied and waste paper and
bigger leaves are used to cover the contents in the tanks and finally the tank
is fully covered with a gunny cloth. Watering the tank is very important
nutrient sources in building up the soil fertility. Cowdung is an input in
Biogas plants. The Biogas route has the dual advantage of providing both
fuel (gas) and fertilizer (slurry). The residual slurry that comes out of the
digestion tank has a manurial value superior to that of FYM. The wet slurry
should not be used as such; it should be dried for usage as manure.

Conclusion: A large fraction of farm by-products of plant and animal origin

is utilized for non-farm use i. e. for fuel or other domestic purposes. Small
and scattered lands holding of the large farming community compel them to
leave the crop residue in the farm itself rather than recycle it for recycling.
Lack of location specific technology to recycle organic waste and lack of
awareness to recycle organic waste in agriculture are the main reason for its
slow adoption even though is a native technique for the farmers which got
lost during the period of Green Revolution. So, in order to popularize this
eco-friendly farming practices like organic farming we have to give attention
to strengthen the production of good quality organic manure, bio-pesticides,
biofertilizers and green manuring crops, discourage the indiscriminate use
of inorganic fertilizers and pesticides, development of pesticides of plant
origin (such as Neem) and use of agents especially under integrated Pest
Management system as well as steps to reduce hazardous chemical residues
in seeds, fodder, food products and milk.