Agricultural Reviews

The concept of organic agriculture is receiving increased attention and organic food markets are also expanding quite fast in many parts of the world including India. Development of production technology particularly appropriate nutrient management strategy for organic baby corn is necessary for realizing higher yield and economic returns as well as soil health aspect. Most of the organic manures are low in nutrient contents, which are not sufficient to meet the nutritional requirement of the crops with smaller quantities, especially when inorganic fertilizers are not applied. Under such circumstances, enrichment of organic manures and composts with permitted additives like rock phosphate and beneficial microbial cultures is a feasible option for nutrient supplementation in organic food production. Microbial enrichment technique with bio-inoculants to composting material had been shown to improve the quality of compost. The enrichment of the organic manures with beneficial microbial cultures will further contribute to the enhancement of N and P contents through nitrogen fixation and phosphate solubilization. Hence, the enriched organic manures and their combination provide an ideal nutrition strategy for the crop. There is the possibility of increasing the nitrogen content of compost by inoculation with nitrogen-fixing organisms and the phosphorus content by the inoculation with phosphate solubilizing bacteria. Improved manures will play a major role in organic farming since the method of production is simple and easy.