An ideal agricultural system is sustainable, maintains and improves human health, benefits to the environment and plays a key role in the rise of human civilization. Soil is the main component of agriculture system that provides numerous essential ecosystem for necessary production of food surplus for increasing world population. For more and healthy crop productivity, soil health management is needed. Therefore, depletion in soil fertility is the main challenge in constraint to food security. To meet our agricultural needs and improve soil fertility, chemical fertilizers have been used from the past and in modern agronomy practices too. The use of chemicals in agriculture is not only responsible for increasing yields but along with have causing widespread ecological damage and negative human health effects (USEPA, 2006).
Many chemical fertilizer applications lead to loss of biodiversity due to its harmful effects on non-targeted plants and animals due to persistence in soil. Some chemicals are not easily degradable, so it leads to leaching the groundwater and surface water and contaminate the environment and by entering in food chain influences human health to a larger extent. The high intensity of chemical application has become a serious cause of concern in recent years. Therefore, chemical application results in several negative effects in the environment that cannot be ignored. Therefore, there is a growing need to promote the use of alternative methods to mitigate the harmful effects of chemical fertilizers on human health and the environment. Organic farming techniques includes crop rotation, green manure, compost and biological pest control will be the best substitute of chemical fertilizers.
Amongst all alternatives compost is a most important source of bio-fertilizer and due to its raw material (dung) availability in bulk, it may be a very effective and cheap alternatives of chemical fertilizers. Cow dung is traditionally used as fertilizer in Asian and African countries from many decades (Sawatdeenarunat et al., 2016) due to providing resistance in plants against pests and pathogens, stimulates plant growth, along with mineral (phosphate and sulphur) solubilization (Sharma and Singh, 2015). It helps to improve productivity in long term with maintaining the soil health and enhances the micro-flora. Manure made from cow dung improves organic content of soil and leads to an increase in porosity and water holding capacity of soil. By application of compost prepared from cow dung in proper and sustainable way, we can enhance yield and productivity along with minimization of pathogenic bacterial and fungal attack on crops and fields with reducing the use of chemical fertilizers. Therefore, improper use of cow dung should be stopped and use as organic manure for maintaining and improving productive and sustainable farming system.
Cow dung is mainly composed of lignin, cellulose and hemicelluloses can be defined as the undigested residue of consumed food material being excreted by herbivorous animal species such as cows, bullock and buffalo. It also contains various minerals such as nitrogen, potassium, sulphur, cobalt, iron, magnesium, copper and manganese. Indian cow also contain higher amount of calcium, phosphorus, zinc and copper than the cross-breed cow (Garg and Mudgal 2007; Randhawa and Kullar 2011).
Cow dung also rich in microbes such as Bacillus sp., Corynebacterium sp. and Lactobacillus sp. Of bacteria, protozoa and yeast (Saccharomyces and Candida) (Nene 1999; Randhawa and Kullar 2011). Several bacterial genera such as Citrobacter koseri, Enterobacter aerogenes, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella oxytoca, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Kluyvera sp., Morgarella morganii, Pasteurella sp., Providencia alcaligenes, Providencia stuartii and Pseudomonas sp. isolated from cow dung also reported by Sawant et al., 2007. So presence of naturally occurring beneficial microorganisms, predominantly bacteria, yeast, actinomycetes, and certain fungi have been reported in cow dung (Swain and Ray, 2009).
With many beneficial properties, fresh cow dung also contains harmful microorganisms, weed seed and too much salt for dry soil. Some microbes may be pathogenic in nature so can spread diseases in food crops. In raw form it may also contain high levels of sodium and toxic ammonia depending on cattle feeding and disagreeable odor, may cause problems in arid or semiarid areas and low rainfall areas on crops. Whereas in manure or compost form, cow dung is the best alternative to chemical fertilizers, because it not only enhances the fertility of soil and improves crop productivity but also reduces various types of pollution caused by raw and mass cow dung and saves the environment. That’s why it’s usually recommended that cow dung be aged or composted prior to its use in crops or fields as fertilizer. By keeping the above views in mind, the present research work entitled “BlackGold: Cow dung turns to agricultural treasure by swift composting”.