Excessive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides in agriculture has come into severe criticism by the environmentally conscious people who opine that the increase in agricultural production was achieved at the cost of soil health. Organic farming is not mere non-chemical agriculture but it is a system of farming based on integral relationships among soil, water, plants, soil microflora and overall relationship between plant and animal kingdom of which man is the apex animal. The totality of these relationships is the backbone of organic farming. The principal elements to be considered...

In India, there is sufficient availability of organic manures like animal dung manure (791.6 mt), crop residues (603.5 mt), green manure (4.50 m ha), rural compost (148.3 mt), city compost (12.2 mt) and biofertilizer (0.41 mt)and these may become a good substitute of chemical fertilizers to maintain the soil physico-chemical and biological properties. The incorporation of organic manures improves the nutrient content and uptake. Although organic manures contain plant nutrients in small quantities as compared to the fertilizer, the presence of growth promoting principles like enzyme and...