Influence of Foliar Application of Cow Urine and Jeevamrutha on Growth and Biomass Production of Wheat Under Natural Farming Conditions
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.66132/ngas020103Keywords:
Cow urine, Jeevamrutha, Biomass accumulation, Foliar nutrition, Natural farming, ZBNFAbstract
Cow-based biological inputs play a pivotal role in natural farming systems, but little is known about the combined foliar effects of such inputs on wheat growth. We conducted a field experiment in the rabi season of 2020-2021 at Dharwad, India, in a split-plot design with three replications to evaluate the effect of cow urine (10, 25, 50 and 100%) and jeevamrutha (JA as per ZBNF recommendation, 25, 50 and 100%) on wheat growth and dry matter The growth traits and dry matter production were measured at 30 days after sowing (DAS), 60 DAS and harvest. Effects of the treatments were not significant at 30 DAS, but later on. Plant height, tiller number, leaf area, leaf area index, and dry matter production increased with increasing concentrations of cow urine and jeevamrutha. The interaction CU3JA4 (50% cow urine + 100% jeevamrutha) performed the best and was statistically on par with the recommended package of practices for many traits while lower concentrations continued to remain inferior. The study shows that foliar spray of cow urine and jeevamrutha can enhance important growth traits and yield of wheat considerably under natural farming systems. A combination and optimized concentration of both nutrients is a potential biological approach for enhancing crop growth and reducing the use of chemical fertilizers.
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