Himanshu Tiwari

In millet-based farming systems, the integrated use of organic manures, biofertilizers, and green manuring significantly enhances soil resilience and carbon sequestration. Organic manures improve soil structure, water retention, and nutrient availability, while biofertilizers introduce beneficial microbes that enhance nutrient cycling. Green manuring adds organic matter and improves soil health. These practices collectively contribute to soil health, making it more resistant to degradation and better at sequestering carbon, thus mitigating climate change.

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Himanshu Tiwari

Organic manures, biofertilizers, and green manuring represent key components of sustainable agricultural practices in millet-based systems, significantly contributing to improved soil resilience and carbon sequestration. The application of organic manures increases soil organic matter content, which enhances soil structure, water retention capacity, and nutrient availability, while reducing erosion and soil degradation. This leads to greater soil resilience against adverse climatic factors such as drought or excessive moisture.

Biofertilizers containing specific microorganisms—such as nitrogen-fixing bacteria, mycorrhizal fungi, and other beneficial microbes—enhance soil biological fertility through atmospheric nitrogen fixation, nutrient mobilization, and stimulation of plant growth. These microorganisms establish symbiotic relationships with plants, increasing nutrient use efficiency and reducing the reliance on mineral fertilizers, thereby minimizing negative environmental impacts and production costs.

Green manuring, involving the cultivation and subsequent incorporation of cover crops into the soil, further increases soil organic biomass and carbon content, contributing to long-term carbon sequestration. This process not only improves the physical, chemical, and biological properties of the soil but also boosts microbial activity and stabilizes soil microclimatic conditions. Carbon sequestration through organic matter supports the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, directly aiding global efforts to mitigate climate change.

The integrated use of organic manures, biofertilizers, and green manuring in millet production systems enables the development of resilient, fertile, and sustainable soils capable of withstanding the challenges of intensive cultivation and climate variability. This approach not only promotes production sustainability but also supports soil biodiversity conservation and overall agroecosystem ecological stability.

Each application that you mentioned has a specific role to play and soil derived from geological substrata has a natural composition of its own. It is important to analyse the soil prior to any such application and choose the right one instead of arbitrarily applying all of them. Such an application may often do harm than benefit any agricultural growth.

The practice of green mulching was a practice to enrich soil for the next crop. In a way this is an indirect input of the organics from the decaying greens.