Technologies - Solid Waste Management

Biodynamic agriculture, as one of the organic agricultural farming methods, was proposed by Steiner and is striving for diversified, resilient and ever-evolving farms, which could provide ecological, economical and physical long-term sustainability for humankind by. It encompasses practices of composting, mixed farming systems with use of animal manures, crop rotations, care for animal welfare, looking at the farm as an organism/entity and local distribution systems, all of which contribute toward the protection of the environment, safeguard biodiversity and improve livelihoods of farmers.

Cow horn-manure a humus mixture prepared by filling the horn of a cow with cow manure and burying it in the ground (40–60 cm below the surface) and covered with good quality compost.The pit should be kept cool by mulching with debris, coconut fronds etc., the preparation was ready after three- four months. It is used at the rate of 25 grams in 13 litres of water and stirred for one hour making a vortex then be sprinkled with a broom sticks. With regular application of BD 500 will give a soil to improve humas formation, soil tilth, earthworm activity.

Cow pat pit:  

Cow pat pit is known as CPP and is specialized type of compost. It refer to cow manure mixed with crushed egg shall and rock dust.Cow pat pit (CPP) structures were constructed at MCRC and BD preparations (BD 502-507 ) inoculated in Cow dung, egg shell and rock at the rate of 60kg, 200g, 300g respectively.CPP was turned once every 15 days and moisture content maintained by sprinkling water. Use as a ground application at 1kg per acre CPP to 40 liters of water and stir for 10 minutes. It contain a wide range of microbial population, growth promoting hormones, which can be very helpful in many area of agricultural and horticulture.

Salt tolerant earthworm composting: 

Salt tolerant earthworms collected from different saline areas are maintained at MCRC. Vermicomposts are then prepared with sea water, salinity maintained and frequently analysed for pH, EC, N, P and K. For vermicomposting, four pit and single pit chambers were constructed in the dimension of 6x6 feet and 3x5 feet respectively. Thatched roof sheds were put up for preventing pit from direct sunlight and heavy rain. Earthworms were collected from Marakkanam and Poolambadi village. Pits were filled with blue metal, sand and soil for draining of excess water and also to act as breeding ground for earthworm. Then cow dung and waste biomass were filled in alternate layers and water sprinkled once in a week. The harvested vermi samples were collected randomly at periodical intervals i.e. every 0, 30, 60 and 90 days and analysed for physical and chemical parameters. For the estimation of physico-chemical properties, the manure samples were shade dried, powdered and passed through 2.0 mm sieve. Bioassay test also conducted at different concentration of salt concentration @ 1- 6 ppm , with 300 g of biomass and 10 number of worms in each treatment (different concentration) Which revealed that 1 ppm show 100% survival where as 2 to 4 ppm shows 50% mortality of the worms.

Various types of soil and manure samples were collected form farmers field and analyses through circular paper chromatography techniques. These images revealed comparatively large in size (4.0cm) of inner zone indicated formation of minerals (mineralization form from the parent material). Violet radiation with brown hue and light brown color of zone indicated the mineral were present in high level. This soil maybe managed with only chemical fertilizer. 

Very small size and undulated with spike like structure of middle zone indicated the fully decomposed organic matters and less quantity of organic matter in soil sample. In most of soil, the outer zone was absent, which indicated that the absence of stable humus in soil sample and less biological activity. The interpretation of images was compared to physiochemical properties of soil sample, which revealed that the same results of soils. The physico chemical properties of chemically managed soil sample were studied.