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Mrunal ExamNotes: Biofertilizers & Green Manure- Pros & Cons

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[Science] BioFertilizers & Green Manure: Meaning, use, advantages,

disadvantages
1. Biofertilizers
1. Examples of BioFertilizers:
2. Pros and Cons
2. Green Manure
1. Examples of Green Manure
2. Pros and Cons of Green Manure?
3. Advantages
4. Disadvantage

Biofertilizers
a substance which contains living microorganisms
when applied to seed, plant surfaces, or soil, it promotes growth by increasing the
supply or availability of primary nutrients (nitrogen, Phosphorous etc.) to the host
plant.

Examples of BioFertilizers:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Rhizobium,
Azotobacter,
blue green algae (BGA)
Azospirillum
Nostac

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Mrunal ExamNotes: Biofertilizers & Green Manure- Pros & Cons

Pros and Cons

Advantages

1. It increases crop yield by 20-30%,

2. replaces chemical nitrogen and phosphorus by
25%, and stimulates plant growth.
3. It can also provide protection against drought and
some soil-borne diseases.
4. Bio-fertilizers are cost-effective relative to
chemical fertilizers. They have lower
manufacturing costs, especially regarding nitrogen
and phosphorus use.
5. environmentally friendly also helps to some extent
http://mrunal.org/2012/08/snt-biofertilizer.html/print/

Disadvantages
1. Their effects are is slower
compared to chemical
FERTILIZER.
2. Difficulty to store:
theyre sensitive to
temperature and humidity
changes.
3. much lower nutrient
density requires large
amounts to get enough for
most crops
4. requires a different type
of machine to apply than
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Mrunal ExamNotes: Biofertilizers & Green Manure- Pros & Cons

CLEANSE the plant from precipitated chemical

fertilizers.

chemical fertilizers
5. sometimes hard to
locate/purchase in
faraway rural areas

Green Manure
green manure is a type of cover crop grown primarily to add nutrients and organic
matter to the soil.
Typically, a green manure crop is grown for a specific period of time, and then
ploughed under and incorporated into the soil while it is green or shortly after
flowering.
Government of India provides subsidy Subsidy on the purchased of seeds & cost on
production of seeds for green manure plants.

Example
Why are they
used?

Examples of Green Manure plants

Leguminous plants
Non-leguminous plants
Cowpeas, soybeans
sudangrass, millet, sorghum, and buckwheat.
for their nitrogen fixing for WEED SUPPRESSION and addition of
abilities
biomass to the soil.

Pros and Cons of Green Manure?

Green Manure: Advantages
1. soil improvement and soil protection.
2. provides forage for pollinating insects.
3. Root systems of many green manure crops to efficiently penetrate compact soils thus
increasing the aeration of the soil.
4. The deep rooting properties of many green manure crops make them efficient at
suppressing weeds
5. They FIX nitrogen in soil, thus Less chemical fertilizers are required.
6. provide habitat for predatory BENEFICIAL INSECTS, they kill and eat the pests /
harmful insects thus less PESTICIDES are required.
Green Manure: Disadvantage
1. Leguminous plants require good amount of irrigation.
2. The time factor: you cannot plant the primary MARKETABLE crop during green
manuring phase.

URL to article: http://mrunal.org/2012/08/snt-biofertilizer.html

Posted By Mrunal On 29/08/2012 @ 13:32 In the category Environment

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Mrunal ExamNotes: Biofertilizers & Green Manure- Pros & Cons

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