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1) Define Organic Farming & Write advantages and Disadvantages of Organic Farming
"Organic Farming is a holistic production management system, which promotes 1 and enhances agro-ecosystem health, including biodiversity, biological cycle and soil biological activity" OR "Organic Farming is production system which avoids or largely excludes the use of synthetically compounded fertilizers, pesticides, growth regulators and livestock feed additives.
Advantages:
1. It helps to maintain environment health by reducing the level of pollution
2. It reduces the human and animal health hazards by reducing the level of residues in the product
3. It helps in keeping agricultural production at a sustainable level.
4. It reduces the cost of agricultural production and also improves the soil health.
5. It ensures optimum utilization of natural resources for short term benefit and helps in conserving them for future generation.
6. It not only saves energy for both animal and machine, but also reduces risk of crop failure
7. It improves the soil physical properties such as granulation, good tilth, good aeration, easy root penetration and improves water holding capacity and reduces erosion.
8. It improves the soil's chemical properties such as supply and retention of soil nutrients, reduces nutrient loss into water bodies and environment and promotes favorable chemical reactions
9. Organically grown crops are believed to provide more healthy and nutritionally superior food for man and animals than those grown with commercial fertilizers.
10. It encourages and enhances the biological cycles within farming system
11.It maintains and increases the long-term fertility of soils.
Disadvantages
1. Yields in organic farming are less than chemical farming. In case of chemical farm converting to organic however, there is often a 2 loss in yield and it takes a few years to attain higher productivity. (Fear of drop in productivity)
2. We cannot supply enough nutrients by using composts organic amendments.
3. Difficult to achieve food production target.
4. No consistency in implementing organic farming.
5 Quality of organic resources is many times remains doubtful, further no control on marketing of industrial organic manure.
6. No guidelines available for organic policy, establishment of organic farms, certification, marketing of organic produce, standards etc.
7. Pest control through organic means is another challenge in farming.
8. Difficulties in obtaining reliable information on domestic and international market for organic products are another obstacle.
2) Write concepts of Organic Farming. Explain Components & Scope of Organic Farming.
Concepts of organic Farming can be described as:
1. Organic Farming is considered to be a self-sustaining system of agriculture and also attractive alternative to high input chemical based 3 production system.
2. This system maintains the soil productivity and controls the pest and diseases by enhancing natural process and cycles in harmony with natural environment.
3. This production system avoids or largely exehudes the use of synthetic fertilizers, growth regulators; livestock feed additives and genetically modified crops (G.M.O.).
4. Organic farming system solely depends on the use of on - farm and off farm crop residues, organic wastes, animal manures, green manures, crop rotations, incorporating legumes and biological pest and disease controls to maintain soil productivity.
5. The philosophy is to feed the soil rather than the crops to maintain soil health. So the objective of environmental, social and economic sustainability lies at the heart of organic farming.
Scope of Organic farming in India
India has large' geographical and arable area with agro climatic zones.
25 million workers are poisoned each year by pesticides (Jayratnam, 1990)
Green revolution has caused great ecological losses.
India has by default organic land in rain fed areas and in north eastern states.
The global market for organic food has touched 31 billion US $ and is set to increase.
Worldwide organic area is more than 24 million hectares in more than 130 countries (IFOAM).
Various pollutions viz., air, ground water, soil have compelled the need go for alternative farming including organic farming.
Only 38% cultivated land is irrigated and in rainfed areas on which principle crops like pulses, oilseeds are grown using little fertilizers and other agrochemicals. Therefore, remaining 62% area has potential to bring under organic farming.
COMPONENTS FOR ORGANIC CULTIVATION.
1. FYM, compost, Poultry manures.
2. Vermicompost
3. Bio-fertilizers
4. Green manures
5. Different oil cakes
6. Crop Rotation
7. Cropping System
8. Inter cropping
9. Use of crop residue
10. Use of organic mulch, etc.,
11. Agro-industrial waste
3) Define Integrated Pest Management (IPM). Give its approaches & State different Biocontrol agents used to control pests in Organic Farming.
4) Enlist Quality parameters on the basis of which Organic Certificate is Given. What are the minimum requirements of Organic certification?
Quality parameters for organic certification
1. Maximum residue level (mg/kg).
2. General appearance (color, shape).
3. Flavor, texture, tastee
4. Damage caused by pests/ diseases
5. Abnormal external moisture
6. Visible trace moulds
7. Size (mm / cm)
8. Weight (kg/g.)
9. Total soluble solids.
10. Sugar/ acid ratio.
11. Skin defects
12. Keeping quality
13. Nutritional status.
5) Give the Principles of Organic Farming and future prospect of Organic farming in Indian context.
Principles of Organic Farming
1) The principle of Health: Organic agriculture should sustain and enhance the health of soil, plant, animal and human as one and indivisible. In particular, organic agriculture is intended to produce high quality, nutritious food that contributes to preventive health care and well-being.
2) The principle of Ecology: Organic agriculture should be based on living ecological systems and cycles, work with them, emulate them and help sustain them. Organic agriculture should attain ecological balance through the design of farming systems, establishment of habitats and maintenance of genetic and agricultural diversity.
3) The principle of fairness: Organic agriculture should build on relationships that ensure faimess with regard to the common environment and life opportunities. Organic agriculture should provide everyone involved with a good quality of life, and contribute to food sovereignty and reduction of poverty. It aims to produce a sufficient supply of good quality food and other products.
4) The principle of Care: Organic agriculture should be managed in a precautionary and responsible manner to protect the health and well-being of current and future generations and the environment. Practitioners of organic agriculture can enhance efficiency and increase productivity, but this should not be at the risk of jeopardizing health and well-being.
5) Biodiversity: Good organic farming reflects the biodiversity of nature through practices like intercropping, companion cropping, establishment of beneficial habitats, crop rotatio etc.
6) Sustainability: Enterprise diversification helps in achieving sustainability production.
7) Natural pest management: Natural predators, parasites and disease agents the quickly knock the pest numbers back down to a moderate level.
6) Define Biofertilizer. Give classification of Biofertilizers and state advantages of Biofertilizers.
"Biofertilizer are cultures of micro-organism used for inoculating seed, seedlings and soil "
Microbial Biofertilizers are biologically active inputs and contain one or more types of beneficial micro-organisms such as bacteria , algae or fungi" Biofertilizers are ecofriendly, low cost inputs playing a significant role in improving quality of agricultural produce and sustaining the productivity over a longer period of time. Biofertilizers mobilize plant nutrients from unavailable form to available form through biological process. Thus they increase the availability of plant nutrients. They also improve the crop growth, yield and quality by producing harmones.
Different forms of bio fertilizers are
1. Rhizobium : Rhizobia is a group of bacteria that fixes nitrogen in association with the roots of leguminous crops.
2. Azotobacter: They are free living nitrogen fixers and can be used for all 3 types of upland crops but connot survive in wetland condition.
3. Azospirillum: They are not free living and live inside plant roots where the fix nitrogen and can be used in wetland conditions.
4. Acetobactor: Endophytic N2 fixer mainly used in sugar rich crops like sugarcane, sugarbeet.
5. Blue-Green Algae: These are free - living, nitrogen fixing photosynthetic algae that are found in wet and marshy conditions.
6. Azolla :Azolla is a free-floating water fern that fixes nitrogen in association with a specific species of Cyanobacteria.
7. Phosphate Solubilizing micro-organisms (Bacteria) (PSB) : These are group of bacteria and fungi, capable of breaking down insoluble phosphates to make them available to crops i.e. for increasing the availability of phosphorous PSB @2.5 kg ha / are utilized.
8. Vasicular - Azbuscular Mycorrhiza (VAM): Mycorrhiza is a sweeping term for a number of species of fungi which form a symbiotic association with the plant root system.
7) What are the characteristics of a Green manuring crop? State advantages and disadvantages of Green Manuring.
Characteristics of a Green manuring crop
1. Multipurpose use
2. Short duration, fast growing, high nutrient accumulation ability
3. Tolerance to shade, flood, drought and adverse temperatures.
4. Wide ecological adaptability
5. Efficiency in use of water
6. Early onset of biological N-fixation
7. High N accumulation rates
8. Timely release of nutrients
9. Photoperiod insensitivity
10. High seed production, high seed viability
11. Ease in incorporation
12. Ability to cross inoculate or responsive to inoculation
13. Pest and disease resistance
14. High N sinks in underground plant parts
Advantage of green manuring
1.It adds organic matter into the soil. This stimulates the bacterial activity and Advantage of green manuring improve physical condition of soil.
2. It facilitate infiltration of rain water and thus, decreases run off and erosion of soil.
3. The green manure crops hold plant nutrients, those would otherwise, have been lost by leaching.
4. When legume plants are used for green manuring, they also fix up atmospheric nitrogen and add it to the soil which is used by succeeding crop.
5. It decreases the availability of certain plant nutrients like phosphorus
6. The green manuring corps return the plant nutrients from deeper soil layer to the upper soil layer, which are consumed by crop.
7. It also suppresses weed growth.
8. It is grown for reclamation of saline and alkali soils.
Disadvantages of Green Manuring
1. Incidence of pest and diseases and nematodes may increase.
2. There is loss of one season specially Kharif.
3. Other short duration crop growing is more paying.
4. It may not be always profitable in terms of the cost of N added in soil by the crop compared with the cost of N from fertilizer.
5. A risk is involved in obtaining satisfactory growth of crop and also proper decomposition of buried material, if there is insufficient rainfall.
6. The undecomposed parts of plants may create hindrance in sowing operation of succeeding crop.
Describe qualities of Green Manure Crops :-
It should have following characteristics:
1. Leafy habit and heavy growth
2. Soft and non-fibrous stem for rapid decomposition. 3. Rapid and early growth.
4. Deep root system for opening the soil in deeper layers.
5. Good nodular growth.
6. An ability to grow well under different soil conditions including poor soils, and suit different climatic conditions.
7. Should have little water requirement.
8) Define Green manuring. Explain types of Green manuring with suitable examples.
Green manuring can be defined as a practice of ploughing or turning into the soil the as well the soil undecomposed green plant tissues for the purpose of improving soil fertility as well as the soil structure and texture. The object of green manuring is to add the organic matter into the soil and enrich it. with nitrogen, which is the most important nutrient is mainly deficient in soils.
Types of green manuring
1) Green manuring in situ: Any crop or palnt (generally leguminous) grown and ploughed in situ is called green manuring in situ.
E.g.: Sesbania (Sesbania speciosa), dhaindia (Sesbania aculeate), sunhemp
(Crotolaria juncea), Phillipesara (Phaseolus trilobus), cowpea (Vigna anguiculata),
greengram (Mungbean) (Vigna radiata), black gram (Vigna mungo), berseem
(Trifolium alexandrium) etc.
2) Green leaf manuring: Consists of gathering green biomass (tender leaves and
twigs) from nearby location (bunds, field boundaries) and adding it to the soil.
Eg: Cassia auriculata, neem (Azadiracta indica), Glyricidia (Glyricsdia maculate). Leucaena leucocephala, Cassia tora, Tephrosia purpurea, Vitex nigundo, karanj (Pongamia glabra), calotropis (Calotropis gigantea) etc...
9) Describe in details various Recyclable organic wastes used in organic farming.
The recycling of various forms of organic residues has the advantage of converting surplus farm wastes into useful products. Organic recyclable includes crop residues, animal wastes, farm industrial wastes, municipal and sewage wastes.
1. Crop Residues: Residues left out after the harvest of the economic Ans. portion and incorporation of green manuring crops.
It includes
A) Sugarcane Trash Compost
B) Biogas Slurry
C) Industrial Wastes
D) Agro Industrial wastes
E) Sugar Industrial wastes
F) Rice husk
G) Fruits and Vegetables produce waste
H) Residues or biological wastes
I) Plantation crop wastes etc.
J) Municipal and Sewage Wastes
Besides above vermin-compost, bio fertilizers are also treated as recyclable material used in organic farming.
10) Enlist various methods of Organic weed management. Write management practices for control of perennial weed.
Management practices for control of perennial weed.
1. Thermal weed control
2. Soil solarization:
3. Mulch:
i. Living mulch:
ii. Organic mulches:
iii. Inorganic mulches:
4. Mechanical weed management
5. Stale seedbed
6. Crop rotation
7. Crop establishment and competition
8. Sanitation.
9. Soil Fertility & Condition.
10. Variety Selection.
11. Mycoherbicides
Natural enemies of weed plants are used as to attack them, reduce number below economic level. Biological agents like insects, fungus, fish, mammals, snails, mites and plants can be used for management of weeds under organic farming.
1,Fungus as mycoherbicides: e.g. Fusarium oxysporum controls Orabanche Allernaria helianthi contols Xanthium strumarium
2. Insects as bioagent: e.g. Zygograma bicolarata (Mexican beetle) controls Parthenium weed Flea Beetle controls Aligator weed.
3. Fish e.g. Common carp and Chinees carp feed on Aquatic weed
4. Mammals: e.g. Manatee/ Sea cow effective against water hyacinth. 1
5.Snails: e.g. Marisa spp. And other fresh water snails feed on submerged weeds like Coontail and algae.
6. Mites: e.g. Spider mites feed on Prickly pear
7. Plants: e.g. Cow pea in sorghum crop.
11) Define Integrated Weed Management. Describe different Biocontrol agents used in IWM.
12) Define Compost. Give classification of Compost with suitable examples
Compost
Composting is a process by which organic wastes are converted into organic fertilizers by means of biological activity under controlled conditions. It is an important technique for recycling organic (agricultural and industrial) wastes and for improving the quality and quantity of organic fertilizers.
Composting is a self heating, thermophilic and aerobic biological process occurs naturally in heaps of biodegradable process and is carried out by different kinds of heterophyllic microorganisms, bacteria, fungi, actinomyctes and protozoa, which derive their energy and carbon requirements from the decomposition of carbonaceous materials.
Following are the organic sources of plant nutrients
I) Bulky organic manure:
i) Rural Compost and Urban Compost
ii) Farm Yard Manure
iii) Bio compost
iv) Vermi -compost
v) Sheep folding
vi) Night soil
vii) Sewage and sludge manure
viii) Green manuring
ix) Poultry manure
x) Biogas slurry
xi) Sewage irrigation
xii) Fly ash
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