Go-Organic Karachi is striving since last several years to promote eco-friendly urban gardening and commercial farming system by introducing organic practices. Food grown with synthetic fertilizers and other poisonous material is highly alarming for human beings to tiny bacteria. Environmentalists and food technologists around the world are worried and emphasizing upon their respective governments to stop chemical applications into soils..
Agriculture once considered the major contributory factor of mitigating adverse environmental effect but unfortunately the introduction of chemicals and poisonous material in food production and urban gardening has adversely affected the soil fertility, ground water, human and animal health rather disturbing the ecological systems.
Go-Organic believes that Organic agriculture respects the balance of microorganisms in the soil. Organic agriculture protects the health of people and the plants by reducing overall exposure to toxic chemicals. Organic practices help to safeguard the environment and protect habitats, organic production conserves andpromotes species diversity.
Organic agriculture builds the health of the soil. Providing the foundation for healthy crops and livelihood. Organic standards require producers to use organic agricultural methods and materials. These standards cover soil fertility, application of Compost, crop rotation and composting. These same standards prohibit the use of municipal solid waste and sewage sludge as compost ingredients.
Of all the components in soil, organic matter is probably the most important and most misunderstood. OM is a soil amendment that improves the physical, chemical and Biological properties of soil. OM serves as a reservoir of nutrients and water in the soil, it aids in reducing compaction and surface crusting and increases water infiltration into the soil and as such the water reaches in the plants through its roots. In other words it is a sponge that holds water, nutrients and air and keeps it available around the roots for absorption.
One Square Foot of soil measured to a depth of 6 inches weighs approximately 21 Kg (2,000,000 lbs per acre) which means that 1 percent OM in the soil would weigh about 210 grams per Square Ft. (20,000 lbs or about 9metric Ton per acre)
There is different qty of OM in soil at different area so ideally soil tests should be conducted to find out how much organic matter your soil has. If the soil test of nearby areas is available it may be assumed that the OM of your soil may be similar.
• Nutrient Supply
Organic matter is a reservoir of nutrients (N.P.K) that can be released to the soil.
• Water-Holding Capacity
Organic matter behaves somewhat like a sponge, with the ability to absorb and hold up to 90
percent
of its weight in water. A great advantage of the water-holding capacity of organic matter is
that it
will release most of the water that is absorbed by the plants. In contrast, clay holds great
quantities of water, but much of it is unavailable to plants. Sufficient organic matter in soil
will
also require lesser watering frequency
• Soil Structure Aggregation
Organic matter causes soil to clump and form soil aggregates, which improves soil structure.
With
better soil structure, improves permeability (infiltration of water through the soil) , in turn
improving the soil's ability to take up and hold water.
• Promotes root growth: OM softens the soil enabling easier root penetration and faster root
growth
• Maintenance of stable soil pH: Soil organic matter moderates the major changes in the soil pH
by
binding or releasing cations. This helps to keep soil pH in the neutral range (pH: 7-8), which
is
optimum for most garden and landscape plants.
• Erosion Prevention
This property of organic matter is not widely known. Data used in the universal soil loss
equation
indicate that increasing soil organic matter from 1 to 3 percent can reduce erosion 20 to 33
percent
because of increased water infiltration and stable soil aggregate formation caused by organic
matter.
Using Raw Gobar (Cow Dung) or Khad in Plants, grass etc can be hazardous as follows.
• Cow dung contains several organism that are soil friendly and beneficial as well as some
organisms like Salmonella and E.Coli that are extremely hazardous as children playing in the
garden or anybody walking in the house from the garden can carry these bacteria and can
contaminate the drinking water, food etc. Even the Khad that we use in our gardens is not
sufficiently aged/ composted and it carries these hazardous organism. On the other hand the
properly composted or Anaerobic digested Organic matter does not contain these hazardous
organism. In the same way using Gobar or Khad in edible crops contaminate them with these
hazardous organism.
• Fresh cow Manure and Khad are carriers of termite which can move from the garden to the wooden
doors, windows and furniture in the house.
• Fresh manure or Khad often contains grass and weed seeds that can cause havoc with your
prepared grass beds when spread. Finally, the ammonia in fresh manure can cause strange growth
patterns and "burn" delicate plant roots.