COW DUNG FOR ECOFRIENDLY AND SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTIVE FARMING

Cows dung is a most important source of bio-fertilizer and used in many developing countries for generating energy. It is very effective’s alternatives to chemical fertilizers by enhancing productivity in long term with maintaining the soil health and enhances the microbial population. Cowdung manure and vermicompost increases soil organic matter content, and this leads to improved water infiltration and water holding capacity as well as an increased cation exchange capacity. It is one of the renewable and sustainable energy resources through dung cakes or biogas which replace the dependence upon charcoal, fuel wood, firewood and fossil fuel etc. Beside it, application of cowdung in proper and sustainable way can enhance not only productivity of yield but also minimizing the chances bacterial and fungal pathogenic disease. Therefore, improper use of cowdung should be stopped and use as organic manure for maintaining productive and sustainable farming system. Introduction: Cows dung is a most important source of bio-fertilizer but at the same time cow’s urine, cow’s horn and a dead body of a cow can be used for preparing effective bio-fertilizer. Animals can play an important role in the provision of energy either in negative way where livestock keeping contributes to deforestation in large parts of forested area or in positively, such as by transforming plant energy into useful work or by providing dung used for fuel through dung cakes or biogas to replace charcoal, fuel wood, firewood etc. Most livestock products in mixed farming systems are derived from animals that are fed on local resources such as pasture, crop residues, fodder trees and shrubs. The farm animals (cows, bullocks and milk buffaloes) provide dung and urine to enrich the soil, while crop residues and fodder form the bulk of the feed for these animals (Kesavan and Swaminathan, 2008). In our country, farming and agricultural cultivation, as per the traditional age-old system, used to be done, with cow dung amongst others serving as manure. There are a variety of cow dung and cow’s urine products, which can be used as fertilizers and pest repellent respectively in agricultural practice. These products are very popular and are using day by day. Low soil fertility is one of the greatest biophysical constraints to production of agroforestry crops across the world (Ajayi, 2007). Cow dung is a very good source for maintaining the production capacity of soil and enhances the microbial population. But due to increasing population pressure and demand of food resources, there is a need of introducing a chemical fertilizer, pesticides and insecticides to the soil, which are disturbing the soil physiochemical properties including soil texture, porosity, and water holding capacity and also disturbed the soil microbial population. Therefore, improper use of cow dung should be stopped and should only be applied in the farmland instead of chemical fertilizers, so that the productivity and sustainability of soil could be maintained which will increase the production capacity of food treasure (Bargali, 2004). Cow dung and soil productivity: Soil provides numerous essential ecosystem services such as primary production (including agricultural and forestry products); regulation of biogeochemical cycle (with consequences of the climate); water filtration, resistance to diseases and pests and regulation of above ground biodiversity (Jhariya and Raj, 2014). Soil fertility depletion is the single most important constraint to food security. Manure is an important input for maintaining and enhancing soil fertility. As per Fulhage (2000) manure contains the three major plant nutrients, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (NPK), as well as many essential nutrients such as Ca, Mg, S, Zn, B, Cu, Mn etc. That, in addition to supplying plant nutrients, manure generally improves soil tilth, aeration, and water holding capacity of the soil and promotes growth of beneficial soil organisms. The application of cowdung manure and vermicompost increases soil organic matter content, and this leads to improved water infiltration and water holding capacity as well as an increased cation exchange capacity. As per Mandal et al. (2013) integration of inorganic, organics and biofertilizers can produce 50-92% more yield in Aonla. According to Adegunloye et al. (2007) C: N ratio in cowdung manure is an indication that it could be a good source of protein for the microbes which involved in decomposition of organic matter. Manure and urine raise the pH level and accelerate the decomposition of organic matter and termite activity (Brouwer and Powell, 1995, 1998). If inorganic fertilizer, especially nitrogen, is combined with manure, the manure reduces soil acidification and improves the nutrient buffering capacity and the release of nutrients (Williams et al., 1995). The soil productivity is also related to available nutrient source in either through manures (dung) or chemical fertilizers (superphosphate etc). Dung increased pH, CEC, total N, organic C, loss on ignition, and exchangeable Mg and Ca. It decreased sulphate sorption. Moreover, cowdung manure plays a significant role in maintaining the nutrient status of the plant. Vermicomposting of cow manure using earthworm species E. andrei (Atiyeh et al., 2000b) and E. foetida (Hand et al., 1988) favoured nitrification, resulting in the rapid conversion of ammonium-nitrogen to nitrate-nitrogen. Therefore it improves the nutrient cycling and helping to convert unavailable nitrogen in available forms to plants. The soil biological attributes are also responsible for determination & maintenance of physical properties of soil. The physical properties of soil in its own turn control not only the quantum of chemical properties, but also the rate of their release and availability to plants essential for metabolic processes. Thus, it may be said that soil biology is the door to maintenance of soil health (Kumari et al. 2014). As per Dinesh et al., (2000) there is a positive relationships between relevant soil properties and enzyme activities and suggested that addition of organic matter increased microbial activity/ diversity and turnover, which subsequently leads to greater enzyme synthesis and accumulation in the soil matrix. The effects of cattle dung on soil microbial biomass are also studied and compared to controlled condition of soil (no any dung application). When dung was mixed with grassland soil under controlled conditions the size of the SMB increased (P < 0.001). Respiration rate also increased (P < 0.001) and specific respiration was higher (P < 0.05) in soil treated with beef cattle dung than in that treated with dairy cow dung (Lovell and Jarvis, 1996).