Cow dung of native breeds is low-quality manure, finds schoolgirl’s analysis
4 min read Express News Service
KASARGOD: Many conventional farmers — relying on natural manure — extol cow dung of native breeds. They attribute virtues to the dung of Vechur and Kasaragod Dwarf — the world’s smallest breeds.
A schoolgirl in Kasaragod determined to scientifically show the widespread perception however the outcomes shocked her and farmers, too.
“I found that the cow dung of Kasaragod Dwarf and Vechur is the least efficient among the cow dung of eight native breeds,” mentioned Arunima M (16), a category XI scholar of Government Higher Secondary School, Bela East close to Kanhangad.
Contrary to common notion, the cow dung of Holstein Friesians, a dairy cattle from the Netherlands, outperformed all different Indian breeds by an enormous margin. Her myth-shattering analysis accomplished at her residence is chosen from Kasaragod district for the state-level Sasthra Padham, the science truthful organised by the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.
The experiment
Arunima chosen cow dung of eight natives breeds from Kapila Gaushala, a farm for native breeds, at Periya, and in addition cow dung of Holstein Friesians from her neighbour’s home.
The native breeds are Gir and Kankrej of Gujarat; Gidda and Hallikar of Karnataka; Kasaragod Dwarf, Vechur of Kerala; Ongole of Andhra Pradesh; and Kangayam of Tamil Nadu. She dried the dung of those cows and in addition Holstein Friesians for straightforward and uniform manuring. She took soil from the identical place and sieved it to take away the stones.
Arunima, who belongs to a farming household, determined to develop lengthy beans, okra, and mustard as a result of they develop quick. She additionally sowed the seeds in cups with out manure.
“That is ‘control’. We have to see how the cow dung fare against plain soil,” she mentioned. For the sake of repetition, she had 10 cups for each plant specifically manure. In all, she sowed the three sorts of vegetable seeds in 300 cups — all with the identical entry to daylight and water. Manuring was accomplished as soon as every week. The management cups weren’t manured.
The observations
She determined to verify the time the seeds took to germinate, the size of the vegetation, the size, and breadth of the leaves, and the thickness of the stem in subsequent weeks.
“For germination, manuring was not required as the seeds sowed in the control cups and other cups shot up on the third day,” Arunima mentioned.
After one week, the lengthy beans sowed in Holstein Friesians dung on a median grew as much as 12 cm; whereas the seeds manured by the dung of Kasaragod Dwarf and Vechur grew solely 5 cm.
Three seeds of lengthy beans sowed in Hallikar dung grew 13cm and the remaining seven grew solely 2cm tall. In subsequent weeks, the expansion evened out, she mentioned.
To her shock, the vegetation sowed within the cups with out manure grew 9cm tall. “That means, the manure of Dwarf and Vechur was less efficient than plain soil,” she mentioned.
After 60 days
After 60 days, the lengthy beans manured by Holstein Friesian dung grew to 128 cm lengthy. Long beans manured by the dung of Dwarf and Vechur grew 22 cm lengthy, which is simply 2cm longer than these sowed in cups with out manure.
Long beans manured by the dung of Kankrej and Kangayam cows grew 58 cm and 60cm, respectively.
Long beans powered by dungs of Ongole and Halikar grew by 50cm and 51 cm, respectively. The common stem thickness of lengthy beans manured by Holstein dung was 0.8 cm, which was precisely double the thickness of vegetation that weren’t manured and in addition these manured by the dung of Dwarf, Vechur, and Kankrej.
The consequence shocked natural farmer Narayanan Kannalayam, who grows and conserves 90 sorts of beans. “I have not compared the dungs but I always used the dung of Dwarf for my farming and I thought it is the best,” he mentioned. These findings are stunning, he mentioned.
“Arunima’s experiment was fueled by curiosity and completely done at her home. It can be replicated by anybody,” mentioned Dr Jasmine M Shah, assistant professor, Department of Plant Science, Central University of Kerala. Dr Shah guided and designed the mannequin of the experiment for Arunima.
‘Feeds matter not breeds’
Dr P R Suresh, dean of College of Agriculture, Padannakkad, mentioned the feeds decide the standard of dung. “The dung of Holstein fared better because it is given better cattle feed as it is a dairy cow,” he mentioned.
The feed, animal’s age, and milking standing decide the standard of the dung, he mentioned. “Milking cows are fed better so their dung will be better,” he mentioned. Dr Shah disagreed. “Dung of eight Indian breeds from the same farm were tested and each dung performed differently,” she mentioned.
Arunima mentioned she used the dung of a Kasaragod Dwarf which was milked. Farm proprietor Dr Nagaratna S Hegde, who has a PhD in most cancers biology from Cambridge Research Institute, mentioned all of the native breeds in her farm are given the identical feed.
“Their intake differs on their size,” she mentioned. Dr Shah mentioned the microflora within the intestine might be the differentiating issue. “I suspect different breeds have different gut microflora. Only a metagenome analysis can find the microflora diversity in the gut,” she mentioned.
“But for a school student, she can complete the experiment by looking at the yield,” she mentioned.
