Green manure is a type of crop that is grown specifically to be incorporated back 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 a number of benefits that can help to improve the overall productivity of the soil. In this article, we will take a closer look at how green manure helps to maintain soil fertility and the role it plays 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 that have 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?
A) Addition of organic matter to the soil:
Green manure adds organic matter to the soil which eventually converts into humus. Fertility of land. The contribution of humus to growth is immense. It holds many nutrients and they are absorbed by the plant over time and diffused 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.
B) Nitrogen addition to soil:
Using leguminous crops for green manures definitely adds some nitrogen to the soil.
C) 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 the action of these microbes, the proteins of animal and vegetable matter are converted into ammonia and then into nitrates, which are usable by plants.
D) 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. Green manure crops, like other crops, take nutrients from the soil 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 soil 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:
A) The plant will be fast growing and will have the ability to grow in infertile soil.
B) The tree will have many branches and leaves.
C) The tree will mature quickly.
D) The stem of the tree will be soft and rot quickly.
E) The roots of the plant will have the ability to penetrate deep into the soil. For this reason, the food supply of the subsoil layer rises up as a result of the exploitation of the roots. comes and at the next stage, it accumulates on the soil’s surface along with green manure and will be used for crops.
F) 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 not only adds organic matter to the soil but also adds nitrogen, an essential nutrient for plants. A kind of lump is formed on the roots of such plants. It is inhabited by mitotic bacteria and collects 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. To grow all these trees, the land does not require much cultivation, only two cultivations are enough. No fertilizer is required. After two to two and a half months after sowing, the plant begins to flower, then it should be understood 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, it is better to cut it into pieces with a sharp cutter before planting. 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.
Read More: Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) in Fruit and Vegetable Production.