The best organic manure means the manure which contains more amount of nutrients when compared to other manures and can supply all essential plant macro nutrients and also improving soil physical conditions , etc. These best organic manures mainly add organic matter in the soil, and increases soil physical conditions.
They do not have definite composition and are completely made or obtained from plant and animal waste products. Waste products from animals include excreta of animals like dung and urine , waste products from plants include entire plant parts like leaves, stem, rice hulls, straw, sugarcane trash, etc.
Manures are of two types. They are as follows.
- Bulky organic manures
- Concentrated organic manures.
Bulky organic manures
These are manures which are slow acting and they are required in large amount or in bulk quantity. These contains large amounts of organic matter. The various bulky organic manures include the following types:
Farm yard manures like cattle manure, sheep and goat manure, poultry manure.
Compost like urban compost, rural compost, vermicompost.
Green manures like insitu green manuring, green leaf manure. Crops like cow pea, dhaincha, green gram, sun hemp, black gram are used as green manuring .
Concentrated organic manures
These are the manures which are quick acting and they are required in small concentrations or very little. The various concentrated organic manures include the following:
Plant origin : these contain edible oil cakes which are fed to cattle and non edible oil cakes which are not fed to cattle. Edible oil cakes include ( ground nut cake, sesame cake, mustard, linseed cake ). Non edible oil cakes include (castor cake, neem cake, sunflower cake).
Animal origin : these contain blood meal, bone meal, fish meal, bird guano ( which is the excreta and dead bodies of sea birds.) Of all these blood meal which contains 13-20 % of nitrogen, rich in iron and it’s application gives deep rich color to the foliage.
Some of the best organic manures are farm yard manure, sheep manure, goat manure, poultry manure, and vermicompost. Of all these manures farm yard manure is used in more amounts. But when compared to farm yard manure vermicompost is more better when compared to any other manure.
Vermicompost: The compost which is produced by the earthworms is known as vermicompost.
Generally vermicompost is best organic manure made of waste materials like agriculture waste like some dried leaves, damaged fruits, damaged vegetables, and other waste like sugar cane trash etc. are used in making. The main part is that the decomposition of these materials is done by earthworms. Hence the compost is known as vermicompost.
Among the concentrated organic manures oil cakes like safflower cake has highest nutrient content in that. The Decorticated safflower cake contains more nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus when compared to vermicompost.
The concentrated organic manures of animal origin include the blood and bone meal which has more amount of phosphorus in it. Both serve as best organic manure when applied to the soil. The nitrogen content in both of varies slightly. They contain potassium in minute amounts.
Nutrient content (%) in different organic manures.
Farm yard manure : 0.5 N, 0.25 P, 0.5 K.
Town compost : 1.5 N, 0.4 P, 1.4 K.
Vermicompost : 3.0 N, 1.0 P, 1.5 K.
Sheep manure : 0.95 N, 0.35 P, 1.0 K.
Poultry manure : 1-1.8 N, 1.4-1.8 P, 0.8-0.9 K.
Night soil : 5.5 N, 4.0 P, 2.0 K.
Ground nut cake : 7.3 N, 1.5 P, 1.3 K.
Safflower cake : 7.9 N, 2.2 P, 1.9 K.
Neem cake : 5.2-5.3 N, 1-1.1 P, 1.4-1.5 K.
Raw bone meal : 3-4 N, 20-25 P.
Steamed bone meal : 1-2 N, 25-30 P.
These are some of the
best organic manures mostly used in agriculture. These organic manures mainly applied in large quantities and they add more amount of organic matter to the soil. Of all these manures the
best organic manures are vermicompost, safflower cake, blood meal, bone meal are some of the manures which have high nutrient content in them. When applied to the soil provides more amount of essential macro nutrients to the plants.