Pesticide Diminution in Paddy Grown in Cow Dung- enriched Soil for Sustainable Agriculture

Abstract

Sustainable agriculture is entrusted with the organic inputs utilized for crop production. Decomposed cow dung is one of the easiest available form of manures and having rich sources of plant nutrients and anti-pathogenic properties for plant protection. The study was conducted in paddy field (var. Satabdi) during boro season (2024-25) with six treatments and three replications using chemical fertilizers and decomposed cow dung at the different level to evaluate the effect of cow dung enrichment on pesticide requirements, yield, and economic efficiency in rice plants. Increase in cow dung content along with decrease in chemical fertilizers, the rate of the cost was diminishing. It was reduced from T1 to T5 (2475.333). But T6 showed it little bit higher (3338.33) because of that for the first time, only the cow dung was not sufficient to provide adequate nutrients to the plant. The pesticide quantity decreased with increase in cow dung content because cow dung has the pesticidal properties. The highest yield was observed in case of T1 (5.241267) whereas the lowest produce was obtained from the T6 (3.622667) because the paddy required high quantity of nutrients which could not be provided by only the source of 10-ton cow dung. Benefit-Cost Ratio was higher for the T4 (1.814) whereas it was the lowest for the T6 (1.171237). The ensured the cow dung enriched soil was having high productivity and anti-pathogenic properties that promote sustainable agriculture.