Orchard Management (1+1)

IMPORTANCE OF INM

Importance of INM systems:

• The INMS helps to restore and sustain soil fertility and crop productivity.
• It may also help to check the emerging deficiency of nutrients other than NPK.
• It brings economy and efficiency in fertilizer use and favourably affects the physical, chemical and biological environment of soil.
• It helps to produce fruits of high nutritional quality in sufficient quantity.
• Currently, decreasing soil fertility has also raised concerns about the sustainability of agricultural production.
• Future strategies for increasing agricultural productivity will have to focus on using available nutrient resources more efficiently, effectively than in the past.
• Integrated management of the nutrients is needed for proper plant growth, together with effective crop, water, soil, and land management.
• The categories considered in the INM are compost, farm yard manure, green manure, manure of gobar gas plant, oil cake, bone meal, steamed bone meal, fish manure, wood ash, sewage and sludge, biological sources, sugar cane press mud, coir pith, bio-fertilizers.

Biological sources:

• Bio-sources are the specific micro-organisms derived either from the nodules of plant roots or from the soil of root zone (rhizosphere).
• These micro-organisms have the ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen either by living symbiotically with the roots of leguminous plants or non-symbiotically (free living).
• They transform atmospheric nutrients from non usable to usable form through biological processes.
• There is a lot of potential of this source to supplement inorganic fertilizers for productive agriculture.

Sugarcane press mud:

• Sugarcane is used in the preparation of jiggery.
• The spent material after processing is known as press mud.
• It contains high amounts of cellulose and hemicelluloses which needs to be broken down into simpler constituents.
• Hence, the raw material needs to be properly digested and composted before it is applied to the soil.

Coir pith:

• This is the raw material obtained from coconut.
• It is available in plenty and also the cost is reasonable.
• Acts as excellent mulch in young plantations and conserves moisture during the drought months.
• It has the capacity to absorb moisture many times over its weight and is used in composting and nursery preparation.
• It has high amounts of silica and hence should be sparingly applied.

Bio-fertilizers:

• These are biologically active inputs and contain one or more types of beneficial micro-organisms such as bacteria, algae or fungi.
• Every micro-organism has a specific capability and function. There are broadly seven types of bio-fertilizers.

1) Blue-green algae:

• Blue-green algae or cyanobacteria are free-living nitrogen-fixing photosynthetic algae that are found in wet and marshy conditions.
• Blue-green algae are so named for their colour but they may also be purple, brown or red.
• They are easily prepared on the farm but can be used only for rice cultivation when the field is flooded and do not survive in acidic soils.

2) Azolla:

• Azolla is a free-floating water fern that fixes nitrogen in association with a specific species of cyanobacteria.
• Azolla is a renewable bio-fertilizer and can be mass-produced on the farm like blue-green algae. It is a good source of nitrogen and on decomposition, a source of various micronutrients as well.
• Its ability to multiply fast means it can stifle and control weeds in (flooded) rice fields.
• Azolla is also used as a green manure and a high-quality feed for cattle and poultry.

3) Phosphate-breaking micro-organisms:

• These are a group of bacteria and fungi e.g. VAM capable of breaking down insoluble phosphates to make them available to crops.
• Their importance lies in the fact that barely one third of phosphorous in the soil is actually available to the crop as the rest is insoluble.
• They require sufficient organic matter in the soil to be of any great benefit.
• A point to consider before using bio-fertilizers produced by commercial units is the issue of using micro-organisms native to another area or region.
• It is possible to isolate the required species of micro-organisms from a farm's soil and mass produce them.
• Besides allowing a better chance of survival of the organism used, this ensures that local species of micro-organisms alone are used.
• There are a few crude as well as standard laboratory procedures for isolation and mass production of bio-fertilizers