Plant Leaves as a source of Nitrogen to the Main Crop | Organic Fertilizers

Organic Nitrogen: In the recent past, many farmers are using urea as a source of Nitrogen in order to supply for the crop plants. However, costs of urea are increasing in the market regardless of the subsidy from the state and Central Governments. Nitrogen plays an important role in the growth and development of the crop plants. Recently, Agriculture scientists from the Banaras Hindu University has identified some plants that supply Nitrogen to the crop soil. High Nitrogen containing plant leaves supply the organic Nitrogen to the crop plants.

Plant leaves supplying Nitrogen to the Crop Plants like Paddy

• Dalbergia sissoo.
• Cassia fistula.
• Azadirachta indica.

The dry form of the leaves supplies Nitrogen to the rice plants. Addition of the dried form of the above plant leaves to the Paddy Crop increase the yield from 687 to 160%. When we add the dried leaves of the above plants in the Paddy field increase the microbial activity in the paddy field. Microbes play an important role in decomposing the plant parts, animal residues, and other organic wastes. The activity of microbes is less in the presence of polyphenols and lignin delays the process of decomposing the residues by the microbes.

Using dry leaves of the Dalbergia sissoo, Cassia fistula, and Azadirachta indica as a replacement to the Chemical fertilizers helps in increasing the productivity of the paddy crop. The dry leaves of the plants increase the activity of the microbial decomposition in the soil. Thus, releases the Nitrogen and Phosphorous into the soil which is then absorbed by the crop plants.

However, using Nitrogen Rich dried leaves of  Dalbergia sissoo, Cassia fistula, and Azadirachta indica is advantageous only for the short duration crops. Therefore, for long duration crops, add paddy straw along with these leaves to increase the Nitrogen supply to the Crop plants.