Crop residue management and Organic manure for maintaining the

soil health
Rajan Bhatt,
Assistant Professor (Soil Science),
KVK Kapurthala
Rajanbhatt79@rediffmail.com,
(9815963858)

Soil fertility in relation to

 Crop residue management: Proper disposal or utilization of non-commercial residue of crop
left in the field; these may be ploughed in to improve the soil fertility or used as fuel.
Preferably, they must be ploughed in the soil to improve the soil fertility viz. Green
manuring (as discussed earlier).
1. Bulky organic manure: Under this title are included
 Farm compost
1. Farm yard manure (FYM)
2. Town compost
3. Night soil
4. Sewage and sludge

A) Farm yard manure (FYM):::

India maintains nearly 1/3rd of the world’s animal population and nearly 1/3rd of the Fram yard
manure is utilized as manure and most of this is being used for cooking the food. The term FYM
refers to the decomposed mixture of dung and urine of farm animals along with the litter (Bedding
Material) and left over material from the fodder fed to the cattles. FYM collected daily from the
cattle shed mainly consist of dung and urine soaked bedding material. FYM mainly contains about
0.5 % N, 0.2 % P2O5 and 0.5 % K2O. For century this has been used as manure in the field.
Unfortunately, now a days around 50 % of cattle dung has been used as fuel and is thus is a lost to
agriculture.
Table :1 Chemical composition of fresh excreta of animals

Excreta of Percentage of
N P2O5 K2O
Cows and Dung 0.40 0.20 0.10
Urine 1.00 Traces 1.35
bullocks
Sheep and Dung 0.75 0.50 0.45
Urine 1.35 0.05 2.10
Goats
Horses Dung 0.55 0.30 0.40
Urine 1.35 Traces 1.25
Pigs Dung 0.55 0.50 0.40
Urine 0.40 0.10 0.45

Thus, urine of all animals contains more percentage of nitrogen, and potash, compared to the
dung portion.

Table 2: Approximately quantity of dung and urine produced per head annually

Animals Dung produced per year Urine produced per year

(Cartload) (Kerosene tina)
Bullocks 15.1 162
Cows 11.2 121
Sheep 0.8 10
Horses 20.1 126
Pigs 1.5 25

*Cartload carries about 1000 pounds of dung and one kerosene tin contains about 40 pounds of
urine.
Horses produced the maximum amount of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium in their dung and
urine.

Dr. R.R.Agarwal has listed the following reasons for a small proportion of the potential manorial
reesourcees of the country being actually utilized as manure.
1. A large proportion of the cattle dung is dropped outside the cattle shed while grazing.
 2. A large proportion of the dung is dried into dung cakes for cooking as a fuel.
3. The urine (Liquid protion) is not properly conserved.
4. There is improper and wasteful fermentation of the manure.
5. Leaching during the rains and drying the hot months in roadside heaps causes considerable
loss of the nutrients.

Improved method of handling the Farmyard manure

Trench method:
Dr. C. N Acharya recommends this method. Manure preparation should be done in the trench of
suitable size, say 20 to 25 ft long, 5 to 6 ft broad and 3 to 3.5 ft deep. All available dry litter and
refuse from the farm and the house should be heaped up near the cattle-shed and portions of the
litter mixed with earth if available, should be spread in the shed in the evening, at the rate of 5 lb
per animal for the absorption of urine. The litter should be localized in the areas where urine
generally drops and soaks into the ground. Each morning, the urine soaked litter and dung should
be well mixed and taken to the manure trench. The trench is filled up by first taking 3ft into
account and then next three ft.
When, the trench is filled in say about three months, then dug out another pit for filling. The
manure in the first pit is prepared in about three months which can be used directly for application
to the land and the similarly pit is used for preparing other manure.

Factors influencing the composition of the manure:

Following factors affect the composition of the manure
Source of the manure
Food of the animal
Agee and condition of the animal
Function of the animal
Manner of storage
Nature of the litter

Table 3: Percentage of different nutrients in straws normally fed to animals

 Percentage of different nutrients
N P2O5 K2O
Straw or stalks
Paddy 0.36 0.08 0.71
Wheat 0.53 0.10 1.10
Jowar 0.40 0.23 2.17
Maize 0.42 1.57 1.65
Bajra 0.65 0.75 2.50

Losses during handling and storage of FYM

A. Losses during handling: FYM consist of dung and urine portion. Approximately half of
nitrogen and potash is in the dung and other half is in the urine portion whereas around 96% of
the phosphorus is in the solid portion.
1. Loss in the urine portion: Under Indian conditions, the kachha floor is unable to
conserve the liquid portion. Large quantities of the nitrogen are thus lost through
the formation of gaseous ammonia. Following reaction takes place
CO(NH2)2 + 2H2O = (NH4)2CO3
(Urea in urine) )
(Ammonium carbonate

2. Loss in the solid portion: Mostly through the burning of the cakes for the cooking
purpose and secondly large quantity of the dung is dropped while grazing outside
collection of which is not possible.
B. Losses in handing: Mainly through leaching, for which the water must has to pass through the
manure and secondly through volatilization of the ammonia and it’s compounds.

Proper field management: Normally the farmers adopt following two practices

1. Mostly, the farmers unload the FYM in small pits in their field before spreading which is
left as such for a month or more.
2. Mostly, the farmers often plough the FYM in their fields after a few days of spreading.
 However, both of these practices are faulty and lead to the loss of the nutrients through the
heating and drying. Thus, it is suggested to spreading and immediately mixing the FYM in the
soil for getting the maximum benefit out of it.
Use of the chemicals as a preservative is also found to have an effect on the loss of the
nitrogen. Among different preservatives Gypsum and Superphosphate are the important one. It
is recommended that one to two pounds of single superphosphate should be applied per day par
animal in the cattle shed, preferably at places where the urine mostly passed.

B) Compost from farm and town refuse:

Composting is mainly a biological process, in which microorganisms of both aerobic and non-
aerobic type decompose the organic matter and lowers the C/N ratio. The final product is the
well rotten manure known as compost. Because of having more organic matter and adding
more plant nutrients into the soil, the compost plays a significant role in improving and
maintaining the soil fertility as compared to the FYM. Normally, the following types of the
compost are prepared in India.
Compost from the farm litter:
Under this category, weeds, stubble, bhusa, sugarcane trash etc. are converted into the
compost manure on the farm itself.
Method of composting:
A trench of suitable size around 15 to 20 ft long, 5 to 6 ft broad and 3 to 36 ft deep is dung for
preparation of the compost. About 1 ft thick layer of refuse is spread all along the whole length of
the trench which was well moistened by sprinkling the mixture of the cowdung + water or earth +
water. Add the refuse in trench till the heap rises to a height of around 1 to 2 ft height. Top of this
is covered by the thin layer of earth. After three months of the decomposition, the entire mass is
heaped in a conical form above the ground and moistened with water if necessary and covered
with earth. After one two months the compost is ready to use in the fields. Thus a total of 4-5
months is required to prepare the compost through this method. This compost mainly contains
about 0.5 % N, 0.15 % P2O5 and 0.5 % K2O.

Compost from the town refuses:

 Town refuse mainly contains night soil, sewage, sludge, street and dustbin refuse.This
refuse can be converted into the good quality manure by adopting Banglore method of compost
Banglore Method of compost preparation:
Trench of suitable size made according to the population size as shown in the table 4. Site must be
atleast two furlongs away from the town and should not made on the western side of the town as
the wind generally flows from the west to east for most part of the year.

Table 4: Population wise dimensions of the trench for compost preparation (Banglore method)
Size of the trench (ft)
Population Length Breadth Width
<5,000 15 5 2.5
5,000-10,000 20 6 3
10,000-20,000 25 6 3
20,000-50,000 30 7 3
>50,000 30 8 3.5

Trenches should be so arranged that the longer sides are parallel and the shorter sides are in the
same line by keeping around 5 to 7 ft space in between the trenches.
First, a layer of KATCHRA about 6 inches thick is spread on the bottom of the trench, with long
handled rackes. Over this add around 2 inches of the night soil, which is spread over the previous
material. Thus the layer of kachra and night soil added alternately. At the end of each day, the
katchra is added to a height of around 9 inches. Loose earth may be used to cover the top of heap
around 2 inches height. This thick layer effectively checks the foul smell, conserve the moisture,
avoid nitrogen losses and minimizes nuisance of the flies. Trench on coming to the ground level, is
filled with kachra and earth, so that it rises one ft above ground level. In the rainy season, it is
preferred to made the top in dome shaped, so that rainwater will not enter into the trench and flows
out. In about 3 to 4 months, the manure is fully prepared for it’s application to the land. This
compost mainly contains about 1.4 % N, 1.0 % P2O5 and 1.4 % K2O.

Advantages of the Banglore method: It manily

1. Kills weeds
2. Control foul smell
 3. Highly hygienic and sanitary.
4. Avoids nitrogen losses
5. Can be installed few furlongs away from the town.

C) Night Soil:
Simply it is human excreta i.e. both solid and liquid. In China, from thousand of years, it is applied
to the soil for maintaining the fertility of the soil. Night soil is richer in nutrients as compared to
the FYM and compost. On oven dry basis, it has an average chemical composition of:
5.5 % N, 4.0 % P2O5 and 2.0 % K2O.

Poudrette System:
Trench of 10 to 12 ft long, 2 to 3 ft wide and 9 inches to 1 ft deep are made. In these trenches,
night soil is deposited and covered over on top with a layer of earth or Kachra. The material
obtained from this trenches are as “Poudrette” on drying. However, mixing the night soil with an
equal amount of the ash and 10 % powdered charcoal produces an odorless material containing
1.32 % nitrogen, 2.8 % Phosphoric acid, 4.1 % Potash and 24.2 % lime.

Drawbacks of the poudrette system:

Following are the some of the drawback of thee poudrette system:
1. Gives out lot of bad smell.
2. Leads to fly breeding
3. Special class of “Bhangi” Are to be employed.
4. Quantity of the produced manure is small as compared to the FYM and compost.
5. Large losses of the nitrogen are there.

Improved method of handling:

1. It should be protected from the flies.
2. It should not pollute the drinking water.
3. Attempt should be made to compost the night soil with other refuse.
4. Pathogens, protozoa cysts, worms and eggs should be destroyed.
D) Sewage and sludge:

In general sewage has two components,

 Solid portion, technically known as sludge
 Liquid portion, technically known as the sewage water.

Both of these are used in increasing the crop production as it contains the plant nutrients however,
the use of untreated water is not recommended. In the treatment, both the components are
separated and are given a preliminary fermentation and oxidation treatments to reduce the bacterial
contamination, the offensive smell and also to narrow down the C: N ratio of thee solid portion.

1) Sludge: Solid portion is separated out and given the preliminary treatment before to
used as a manure for which it is stored in a septic tank to relieve it of the heavier
portion of the solid matter also to undergo a preliminary fermentation and oxidation
of the organic matter in the fresh sewage, thereby reducing the C: N ratio. Such a
material is known as the “Activated Sludge” is of inoffensive small and on dry
weight basis contains up to 3 to 6 % Nitrogen, about 2 % phosphorus and 1 %
potassium in a from the can become readily available when applied to the soil. A
number of sludge methods are produced by thee different methods of sewage
treatment or preparation in different countries
Settled Sludge, produced by plain sedimentation
Digested sludge, resulting from anaerobic decomposition of sedimented sludge.
Activated Sludge
Digested activated sludge
Chemically precipitated sludge

Sludge, in general rich in nitrogen and phosphorus while they are low in potash. Thee principle
value of the sludge as a manure lies in their slowly available nitrogen and phosphorus. Sludge also
act as a source of micronutrients such as Boron, Manganese, Copper, Zinc and Iron.
 2.) Sewage irrigation: After removing the sludge, the water is used, as a source of
irrigation is known as “Sewage Irrigation” which also supplies N, P and K. The effluents from thee
settling tanks with only anaerobic fermentation treatment, still carries a large amount of thee
objectionable colloidal matter. However with the aerobic oxidation, the treated effluents as it is
called, is a clear odorless liquid containing nitrate in solution through which large no. Of
pathogenic bacteria has been removed.
Thus, both the activated sludge and the effluent can be used with safely for manuring and irrigating
all the field crops except the vegetables, which are eaten raw or uncooked.
Commonly raised crops with irrigation water:
Fodder ops like Oats, Jowar, Maize, Berseem and Lucern.
Sugarcane
Vegetable crops like Cabbage, cauliflower, turnip, potato, bringal, Lady’s finger etc.

Irrigating with the sewage water is not advocated safe for raising all the crops. In general, products
which can be consumed raw mainly tomato, onion, garlic and carrot should not raised by irrigating
with the sewage water because of danger of spreading thee disease.

Thus , we can upgrade the health of our soil by using the above mentioned awys buit
the method of preparation should be correct band it is used at the exact amount
which is proposed for a particular type of the soil.