NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT IN ORGANIC FARMING

Nutrient management in organic farming systems depends solely on organic inputs for
nutrient availability through mineralization or conversion of organic into inorganic forms by
microbes. The source of organic forms of nutrients are organic matter, farm yard manure,
green manure, crop residues, compost, biofertilizers and bio-solids from agro-industries and
food processing wastes. Various practices can play an important role in nutrient management
in organic farming system as described briefly below.

USE OF TRADITIONAL ADDITIVES FOR ORGANIC FARMING

Most countries have traditionally utilized various kinds of organic materials to maintain or
improve the tilth, fertility, and productivity of their agricultural soils.

1. SOIL ORGANIC MATTER AND HUMUS

Farmers since ancient times have recognized significant benefits of soil organic matter to
crop productivity. The following list includes many of the recognized benefits of soil organic
matter (Stevenson, 1982):

1. It serves as a slow-release source of N, P. and S for plant nutrition and microbial growth.

2. It possesses considerable water-holding capacity,, and thereby helps to maintain the water
regime of the soil.

3. It acts as a buffer against changes in pH of the soil.

4. Its dark color contributes to absorption of energy from the sun and heating of the soil.

5. It acts as a “cement” for holding clay and silt particles together, thus contributing to the crumb
structure of the soil, and to resistance against soil erosion.

6. It binds micronutrient metal ions in the soil that otherwise might be leached out of surface soils.

7. Organic constituents in the humic substances may act as plant- growth stimulants.
2. FARM YARD MANURE

The term FYM (Farm yard manure) refers to the decomposed mixture of dung and urine of
farm animals along with the litter (bedding material) and left over material from fodder fed to
cattle. Applying FYM to enrich the soil fertility is an age-old practice. It is the most
commonly used organic manure in most countries of the world. Good-quality farmyard
manure is perhaps the most valuable organic matter applied to a soil. It provides the plants
with macro and micronutrients. Well rotten FYM contains about 0.5%N, 0.3% P2O5 and
0.5% K2O. It is one of the most important agricultural by-products.

3. COMPOSTED MANURE

Composting is the process of reducing vegetable and animal refuse (rural or urban) to a quickly
utilizable condition for improving and maintaining soil fertility. Good organic manure similar in
appearance and fertilizing value to cattle manure can be produced from waste materials of various
kinds, such .as cereal straws, crop stubbles, cotton stalks, groundnut husk, farm weeds and grasses,
leaves, leaf-mould, house refuse, wood ash, litter, urine- soaked earth from cattle-sheds and other
similar substances. The direct application of such undecomposed, low-nitrogen organic matter as
manure brings about a temporary deficiency of mineral nutrients (especially nitrates and ammonium
compounds) in the soil by stimulating the growth of micro-organisms, which in turn, compete with
crop plants for available nitrogen, phosphorus and other elements.

4. GREEN MANURES

Green manuring can be defined as a practice of ploughing or turning into the soil undecomposed
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. 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 8 to 25 tonnes of green matter per
hectare will add about 60 to 90 kg of nitrogen when ploughed under. The green-manure crops also
exercise a protective action against erosion and leaching. The crops most commonly used for green-
manuring are the following :Sunnhemp (Crotalaria juncea), dhaincha (Sesbania aculeata), cluster-bean
(Cyamopsis tetragonoloba), senji (Melilotus parviflora), cowpea (Vigna catjang, Vigna sinensis),
horse-gram (Dolichos biflorus), pillipesara (Phaseolus trilobus), berseem or Egyptian clover
(Trifolium alexandrinum). One ton Dhaincha dry matter adds Nitrogen 26.0 kg, Phosphorus, 7.3 Kg,
potash 17.8 Kg, Sulphur 1.9 Kg, Calcium 1.4 Kg, Magnesium,1.6 Kg, Zinc 25 ppm, Iron 105 ppm
Manganese 39 ppm, Copper 7ppm per hectare in soil.,
6. SEWAGES AND SLUDGE

Domestic and industrial wastes (sewage and sludge) contain large quantities of plant nutrients
and are used for growing of crops near many towns. Municipal and sewage wastes -also form an
important component of organic farming. The total and utilizable nutrient potential from garbage and
sewage sludge works out to be substantial. The total municipal refuse is about 12 million
tonnes/annum containing about 0.5% N, 0.3% K, whereas sewage sludge amounting to 4 million
tonnes/annum contains about 3% N, 2% P and 0.3% K (Bhardwaj and Gaur, 1985). Besides the
necessity of sewage farming from nutrient utilization point of view, it is also an effective method to
avoid pollution.

7. NIGHT SOILS

Since human excreta is a potential source of soil improvement, public health authorities in several
countries make the necessary arrangements for its conservation and conversion into a form in which it
can be safely used as a manure. -The dehydration of night-soil, as such, or after admixture with
absorbing materials, e.g. soil, ash, charcoal, and sawdust, produces a powder that can be easily used as
manure. The mixing of night-soil with an equal volume of ash and 10 per cent powdered charcoal
produces an odorless material, containing 1.32 per cent nitrogen, 2.8 per cent phosphoric acid, 4.1 per
cent potash and 24.2 per cent lime. The addition of 40 to 50 per cent of sawdust to the night-soil
yields straightway a dry, acidic powder which may contain 2 or 3 per cent nitrogen.

8. VERMICOMPOST

Earthworms are used to prepare compost from farm and livestock wastes. Earthworms continuously
feed upon the organic residues and produce casts. These casts are generally termed as Vermicompost
Casts of earthworms are usually rich in nutrients and organic matter and therefore serve as a good
source of manure for growing crops. Certain earthworms like Eisenia foetida, Perioriyx excavatus and
Eudrilus eugeniae are specifically suited for the preparation of vermicompost. Vermicompost contains
N 1.0-1.5%, P2O5 0.2-1.0% and K2O 1-2% depending upon the raw materials used.
 USE OF NON-TRADITIONAL ADDITIVES FOR ORGANIC FARMING

A number of products are now available that are generally referred to as ‘soil and plant
additives, of non-traditional nature. These products include various types of biofertilizers.

Biofertilizers: Biologically active products containing selective strains of microorganisms

which can contribute nutrients to plants through microbial activity are known as
biofertilizers. They can provide an economically viable support to small and marginal
farmers by partly replacing inorganic fertilizers use in crop production. The effective use of
biofertilizers along with other source of plant nutrients play a vital role in increasing crop
productivity and sustained agriculture production.

Role of Biofertilizers: Biofertilizers are important for their following contribution as

agricultural inputs:

(i) Biofertilizers are low cost, effective and renewable sources of plant nutrients t
supplement chemical fertilizers.
(ii) They contribute plant nutrients through biological nitrogen fixation and
solubilization of fixed phosphates.
(iii) They can enhance 10 to 20% of crop yield.
(iv) They control and suppress soil -borne diseases as some of the inoculants produce
antibiotics.
(v) They help in proliferation and survival of beneficial microorganisms of soil.
(vi) They help in mineralization of plant nutrients, improve soil properties and sustain
soil fertility.
(vii) They are eco-friendly and pollution free.

Types of Bio fertilizers

Rhizobium

The most widely used bio fertilizer is Rhizobium which colonizes the roots of specific legumes to
form tumor like growths called root nodules. It is these nodules that act as factories of ammonia
production. The Rhizobium legume association can fix up to 100-300 kg N/ha in one crop season and
in certain situations can leave behind substantial nitrogen for the following crop. The range of
nitrogen fixed per hectare per year by different legumes is 100-150 kg for clover, 80-85 kg for
cowpea, 100-300 kg for alfalfa, 240-320 kg for faba bean, 90-100 kg for lentil, 150-200 kg for lupins,
50-60 kg for groundnut, 60-80 kg for soyabean, 50-55 kg for mungbean and 100-400 kg for pasture
legumes.

Azotobacter

The beneficial effects of Azotobacter bio fertilizer on cereals, millets, vegetables, cotton and
sugarcane under both irrigated and rain feed field conditions have been substantiated and documented
(Pandey and Sushil Kumar, 1989). Application of azotobacter has been found to increase the yields of
wheat, rice, maize, pearl millet and sorghum by 0-30% over control. Apart from nitrogen, this
organism is also capable of producing antibacterial and antifungal compounds, hormones and
siderophores.

Azospirillium

Certain micro-organisms like bacteria and blue-green algae have the ability to use atmospheric
nitrogen and transport this nutrient to the crop plants. Some of these nitrogen fixers like rhizobia are
obligate symbiont in leguminous plants, while others colonize the root zones and fix nitrogen in loose
association with plants. A very important bacterium of the latter category is Azospirillum which was
discovered by a Brazilian scientist and which attracted head-lines in the mid 1970s. The crops which
respond to Azospirillum inoculation are maize, barley, oats, sorghum, pearl millet and forage crops.
Azospirillum applications increase grain 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 a bio fertilizer for rice is very promising. A judicious use of
these algae could provide to the country’s entire rice acreage as much nitrogen as obtained from 15-17
lakh tonnes of urea. Methods have been developed for mass production of algal bio fertilizer and rice
growers in many parts of the world have already started using these algae (Venkataraman, 1981,
1988). 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 water fern, Azolla is commonly seen in low land fields and in shallow fresh water
bodies. This fern harbours blue - green algae, Anabaena azollae. The AzolIa-Anabaena association is
a live floating nitrogen factory using energy from photosynthesis to fix atmospheric nitrogen
amounting to 100-150kg N/ha/year from about 40-60 tonnes of biomass (Hamdi, 1982; Singh, 1988).
Reports of its current use as a bio fertilizer for rice in China, Vietnam, India, Indonesia, Thailand and
other East and South Asian countries are available. An integrated system of rice Azol1a fish has been
developed in China.

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 phosphorus uptake. The interconnected net-work of
external hyphae acts as an additional catchment and absorbing surface in the soil beyond the depletion
zone that would otherwise be inaccessible to the plant roots. Endotrophic mycorrhizae have been
shown to be present in a wide range of horticultural species including apple, walnut, almonds, citrus,
avocado, strawberry and grape. In many cases, the mycorrhizae have been shown to markedly
improve the growth of plants.

BENEFITS OF ORGANIC FOOD

Organic farming emphasizes the use of renewable resources. One of the common benefits
proclaimed about organic foods is that they taste better, but there are many other benefits to
incorporating organic foods into your diet. Besides the physical benefits to you there are
environmental benefits and benefits to the animals and people who live and work on the
farms.

Health Benefits
Organic foods prevent people from ingesting regular amounts of pesticides commonly found
in commercial products. Some research suggests that the excessive use of chemicals in food
can be linked to increased health problems and interferes with the healthy development of
children. Organic food significantly lowers the children’s dietary exposure to organo
phosphorus pesticides.

Environmental Benefits
Organic food also protects the planet. it ensures that biodiversity remains available in the
foods we eat and the wildlife that live on the farms. Fruits and vegetables are naturally
available in 100’s of varieties. Commercial intensive cultivation limits the variety of food
available by mass producing only a handful. Many species of birds, insects and other animals
are affected by the chemicals and farming conditions used in growing commercial foods.
Organic farms grow a mix of crops and promote a balanced ecosystem including parasites
and predators that protect crops from pests and worms and other microorganisms which
enrich the soil.

Human and Animal Benefits

Organic food products reduce human exposure to pesticides. Organic farming is considered
‘sustainable’ farming. The workers and the animals are not as exposed to dangerous toxins or
working and living conditions. This enables people to continue growing healthy foods for the
rest of society without reliance on huge machinery and chemicals. Organic, sustainable
farming protects humans, animals and the environment. Increasing the demand for organic
products will encourage this form of farming and ensure that the food supply available to our
children is a healthy one.