Green manure is a type of crop grown specifically to be incorporated into the soil. It is an important tool for maintaining soil fertility and improving soil health. When green manure is incorporated into the soil, it provides several benefits that can help improve the soil’s overall productivity. In this article, we will take a closer look at how green manure helps maintain soil fertility and its role in sustainable agriculture.
What is Green Manure?
Generally, any crop sown on the land while it is still green is mixed with that land, and the fertilizer is called green manure. This fertilizer helps in increasing soil fertility in many ways. The main purpose of composting is to add organic matter to the soil.
Plants with roots that spread deep into the soil, grow quickly with little care and produce high amounts of organic matter should be selected for green manure. After the plant grows in the field, when it begins to flower, it is plowed and mixed with the soil. It rots slowly in rainwater.
A few times of plowing and turning the soil later with a ladder will allow the rest of the plant to sink better into the ground and rot. Adds soil fertility and improves soil texture.
What are The Benefits of Green Manure?
1. Addition of organic matter to the soil:
Green manure adds organic matter to the soil, eventually converting into humus—fertility of the land. The contribution of humus to growth is immense. It holds many nutrients, which the plant absorbs over time and diffuses into the soil sap. It also significantly improves the physical properties of the soil, i.e., easier soil compaction, frees air circulation, and maintains temperature balance.
2. Nitrogen addition to soil:
Using leguminous crops for green manures adds some nitrogen to the soil.
3. Acceleration of biological processes on land:
The organic matter added to the soil through green manure influences and accelerates the activity of soil microbes. As a result of these microbes’ action, animal and vegetable matter proteins are converted into ammonia and then into nitrates, which are usable by plants.
4. Conservation of land and food supply:
The use of green manure preserves topsoil. When crops like dhaincha (Sesbania rostrata), Shaan, etc., are grown on the land, those crops are grown so densely that the rainwater cannot fall forcefully on the soil or the surface soil cannot be blown away by storms.
Thus the soil is saved from destruction. Like other crops, green manure crops take nutrients from the ground and then mix those nutrients back into the soil. The next main crop he eats is as usual. So it can be said. Green manure adds nitrogen to not only the ground but also stores or stores other nutrients in the soil.
The Qualities or Characteristics of Plants Suitable For Green Manure?
The characteristics of all crops used for green manure production are as follows:
- The plant will be fast growing and will have the ability to grow in infertile soil.
- The tree will have many branches and leaves.
- The tree will mature quickly.
- The stem of the tree will be soft and rot quickly.
- The roots of the plant will have the ability to penetrate deep into the soil. For this reason, the subsoil layer’s food supply rises due to the exploitation of the roots. It comes, and at the next stage, it accumulates on the soil’s surface along with green manure and will be used for crops.
- As far as possible, it will be a plant belonging to the leguminous family. Leguminous plants like cowpea, cowpea, and cowpea are commonly used in our country to prepare green manure. As a result, this crop adds organic matter to the soil and nitrogen, an essential nutrient for plants. A kind of lump is formed on the roots of such plants. Mitotic bacteria inhabit it and collect nitrogen from the atmosphere. The nitrogen of the microbial body is later stored in the soil and available for crops.
How To Preparation and Use?
A dark green bean-like plant. A lot of leaves can be seen growing in this tree. It grows quickly and attains maturity in a short time. Only two rounds of cultivation are needed to grow all of these trees on the land.No fertilizer is required. After two to two and a half months after sowing, the plant begins to flower; then, You should understand that the crop has reached maturity and is suitable for green manure preparation.
It is at this time that the plants are plowed under the soil. If the tree grows too tall, cutting it into pieces with a sharp cutter before planting is better. With the onset of the monsoon, a lot of water accumulates on the ground. In that condition, after 10/12 days, if 2/3 cultivation is done, the tree completely rots and merges with the soil.
Conclusion
In the expedition towards sustainable agriculture, the notion of verdant fertilization emerges as a potent comrade. Its capacity to augment soil fecundity, imbue nutritional essence, and fortify comprehensive soil well-being bequeaths it the status of a fundamental pillar within ecologically conscious agronomic methodologies.
Read More: Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) in Fruit and Vegetable Production.
I am Gaushoul Agam,
𝐂𝐨-𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 & 𝐂𝐄𝐎,
ToAgriculture
As an experienced SA Horticulture Officer in the Horticulture Wing of the Department of Agricultural Extension, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, I am dedicated to advancing agriculture and farming.
With a mission to address global food safety challenges amid a growing population, diminishing arable land, and the impacts of climate change on agriculture, I founded ToAgriculture. Through this platform, I empower readers with modern agricultural techniques, effective pest and disease control, and sustainable agricultural management, leading to a more secure and prosperous future in agriculture.
With over four years of expertise in field crops and seven years in horticulture crops, my knowledge spans fruit and vegetable farming techniques, adept pest-disease management, proficient irrigation strategies, and the art of grafting. Join me on this journey of discovery as I share insights and experiences to guide readers toward a sustainable future.
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