Manures - Panchakavya

In our Agriculture for Everybody blog series, we are going to see Panchakavya.


From this blog onwards, we will be covering all the manures which are part of Organic Farming. 

As a first step, we will fix the format for the users of this blog.  You will see the same format being repeated for every manure that we are going to cover from this point onwards.  Anything that has not been filled under the topic, means the data is not available currently and will be filled in once the data is available.

The term manure will be used generically and it will refer to the manure in the topic unless explicitly mentioned .

In this blog, we are going to see a very important manure namely Panchakavya or Panchagavya. 


Required Ingredients

S.No.	Ingredient Name	Qty in Litres/Kgs
1	Fresh Cow Dung	5 Kgs
2	Cow's Urine	3 Litres
3	Cow's Milk	2 Litres
4	Cow's Curd	2 Litres
5	Cow's Ghee	0.5 Kg

Method of Preparation

1. Non-Metallic Container should be used for preparing the manure.
2. The fresh cow dung and cow’s ghee has to be placed in the container and they need to be mixed thoroughly twice daily (in the morning & evening) for 3 days.
3. On the fourth day, add the rest of the ingredients and stir it twice daily (in the morning & evening) for 15 days.

Note:

• The manure will be ready after the 18th day.
• Please note that the stick (neem stick is better or any pole) used for mixing the ingredients should be cleaned before & after the usage so as to avoid maggots formations in the manure.

Method of Storage

1. The manure should be mixed thoroughly twice daily (in the morning & evening).
2. The manure should be kept in the shade and covered with a wire mesh or plastic mosquito net to prevent houseflies from laying eggs and the formation of maggots (worms) in the solution.  This is applicable during the preparation as well as during the shelf life of the manure as well.

How long can we store the Manure?

1. The manure can be stored for 6 months time.

How to use the Manure?

1. Spray System - Three litres of manure to every 100 litres of water is ideal for all crops. The power sprayer of 10 litres capacity may need 300ml of manure per tank. After dilution the manure solution has to be filtered before using it for spraying.
2. Flow System - The solution of manure can be mixed with irrigation water at 20 litres/acre, either through drip irrigation or flow irrigation.

When to use the Manure?

1. Generally, it is accepted that every 15 days, 2 sprays need to be used.
2. During the Flowering and Pod setting stage, 2 sprays need to be used once in 10 days.
3. During the Flowering/Pod maturation stage, it need to be used once only.