- Recycling of farm wastes and crop residues has been found to economize farm production as well as safe environment. Korikanthimath and Manjunath (2004) working in Goa conditions found that adoption of intensified cropping systems helped to recycle the crop residue more efficiently than the rice alone crop. The organic manure FYM, poultry manure, mushroom residue smeared fully intact for reuse but the crop residue available under different system is about 62% and rest is used for dry or other purpose. In IFS model at PDFSR, Modipuram, all the farm wastes and crop residues were recycled either in situ incorporation in to the soil (green manure crops, cowpea intercropped in sugarcane , cane trash, leaves of potato and redgram, roots of berseem and other leguminous crops and green biomass added after picking of pods etc.) or by composting (Vermicompost, FYM) of cow dung & urine mixed with farm wastes (Photos 28-31). A detail account of recyclable farm resources and nutrients availability is given in table-14 .
Source of nutrients and per centnutrient content (N:P:K) on dry wt. basis | Available quantity at farm (kg) | Approx. released nutrient N (kg) | Approx. released nutrient P (kg) | Approx. released nutrient K (kg) | Total NPK released/ required in the IFS |
Green manure crops |
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Sesbania spp. (1.29:0.36:1.64) | 8800 | 18.9 | 5.3 | 24.0 | 48.2 |
Cowpea (1.29:0.36:1.64) | 8500 | 18.3 | 5.1 | 23.2 | 46.6 |
Crop residues (dry wt.) |
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|
Sugarcane leaves (0.4:0.18:1.28) | 900 | 3.6 | 1.6 | 11.5 | 16.7 |
Arhar leaves (1.29:0.36:1.64) | 232 | 3.0 | 0.8 | 3.8 | 7.6 |
Potato leaves (0.52:0.21:1.06) | 1450 | 7.5 | 3.0 | 15.4 | 25.9 |
Cow dung (dry wt.) (0.4:1.2:1.9) | 17600 | 70.4 | 211.0 | 334.0 | 615.4 |
Total nutrients added in to soil | – | 121.7 | 226.8 | 411.9 | 760.4 |
% of total requirements | – | 42.6% | >100% | >100% |
|
Nutrient requirement/year | – | 285.3 | 116.3 | 109.9 | 511.5 |
(field + plantation crops) |
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- This nutrient budgeting indicate that through recycling of all the available farm resources, plant nutrients equivalent to 121.7 kg N, 226.8 kg P and 411.9 kg K could be added in to the soil. Considering a realizable amount of 30% of the total nutrient incorporated in to soil through recycling , a saving of 228 kg of NPK (44.6% of 511 kg of NPK – annually required for field and plantation crops) was observesd . The average annual requirement of NPK however, was 285.3kg, 116.3kg and 109.9kg, respectively). In addition to this, nutrient rich pond silt and pond water recycled for crop production also add a total amount of 18.56 kg N, 6.21 kg P and 74.24 kg K with a market value of rupees nine hundred fifty or more. The OC% of pond silt was as high as 1.20 with an average value of 0.95. Addition of pond silt and water was found to increase the yield of rice and wheat by 3.48 q/ha and 2.41 q/ha, respec- tively. Organic source of nutrients are rather cheap than chemical fertilizers and also help in maintaining soil health and keep environment safe.