Microbial Characterization of Jeevamrutha and its Effect on Beneficial Soil Microorganisms

Abstract

The excessive use of chemicals, fertilizers, pesticides, and weedicides in agriculture has generated issues for all life on earth, even if technology-induced farming is necessary to support the world's expanding population. As a result, strategies that are more ecologically conscious have emerged, like sustainable intensification and agroecology. Jeevamrutha is a type of organic liquid formulation, which is made with readily available ingredients like water, jaggery, pulse flour, and farm wastes like cattle dung and urine. When applied to soil, it creates a friendly microorganism environment, which supports the availability of essential nutrients for plant growth. The objectives of this experiment aimed at characterization of Jeevamrutha and the effect of Jeevamrutha on beneficial soil microorganisms. The experiment was conducted to see how storage period of Jeevamrutha affected the microorganisms present in it for a period of 14 days. The effect of application of Jeevamrutha in varying concentrations on the population of beneficial microorganisms in soil was observed. Five treatments with different combinations were laid out for the experiment. The results obtained from the experiment revealed that Jeevamrutha was effective for usage between 8 th day to 10 th day after preparation (DAP). Application of Jeevamrutha at 100% concentration recorded significantly higher microorganisms when compared to other treatments but such a high concentration could be toxic to the crops. As a result, Jeevamrutha at 50% and 75% concentration proved to be more effective in terms of growth and yield when applied to the crops.