MANAGING SOIL FERTILITY

From the day of sowing till harvest, the plants take in several nutrients from the soil. It is therefore essential to replace the used nutrients back in the soil for the next season crop and to retain soil fertility. The nutrients required by the plants can be supplied from organic sources such as farmyard manure, green manure, green leaf manure, vermicompost and biofertilisers. These manures help prevent soil erosion and also improve the infiltration capacity of the soil.

Farmyard manure

Wastes of cattle, goat and pig are generally used as farmyard manure. All the nutrients required by the plants are present in small quantities in this manure. They remain in the soil for longer periods and produce good results.

Required quantity

Method of use

Any one of the above mentioned manures should be applied as a basal manure during the final ploughing. The farmyard manure should be allowed to decay before it is used. The manure should be applied and ploughed into the soil the same day. When farmyard manure is allowed to remain in the field without incorporation into the soil for longer periods, there are chances that more than 50% of the nutrients will get wasted due to soil erosion and high temperature.

Updated on : Dec 2014