Cattle urine: An alternative to chemical use in agriculture

Dr Yumlembam Rupert Anand & Dr Sumitra Phurailatpam *

Cattle urine has been used for several medicinal purposes and the description on its use has been in several classical Ayurveda texts like Charakasamhita and Shushrutasamhita. It is also known for its antidiabetic, antimicrobial, antioxidant, antitumor molluscicidal properties. It also has several applications in agriculture and can be a good solution against the negative impacts created by the use of chemicals in agriculture.

Cattle urine as Fungicide:

o Antimicrobial properties of cattle urine against most of the major diseases of crop plantswhich weusually encounters out in the field, caused by plant pathogens such asFusarium oxysporum, Rhizoctonia solani, Alterneria solani, Sclerotiumrolfsii, Pythiumaphanidermatum, Phytopthoraand Ralstonia solanacearum etc., has been recently reported by various researchers.
o Deepti and Nidhi (2017), researchers from Haryana, reported that the combination of plants extracts and cattle urine i.e. Eucalyptus obliqua (10%) + Neem cake (Azadirachtaindica) (10%) + Cattle urine (0.5%) and Calotropisprocera + Karanj cake (Millettiapinnata) + Cattle urine (0.5%) can effectively control leaf blight disease of tomato.

Cattle urine as pesticides:

o Ash and soil mixture along with Cattle u rinecan be drastically reduced Cabbage aphids.
o Cattle urine and water at 1:5 solutions, when sprayed in the field drastically reduces the population of aphids in the field.
o Cattle urine along with the leaves of neem (Azadirachtaindica), and few grams of garlic cloves, onions, ginger and sweet flag (Acoruscalamus) to spray over the standing crops so as to control aphids and beetles. Cattle urine along with Vitexnegundo and Ferula asafoetida can also effectively control insects and pests that affect wheat and paddy crops.

Cattle urine as a fertilizer:

o Cattle urine consists of 95% water, 2.5 % urea and the remaining 2.5 % a mixture of minerals, salts, hormones and enzymes.
o Cattle urine is a good source of nitrogen, phosphate, potassium, calcium, magnesium, chlorite and sulphate.
o Nitrogen makes up 46% of urea. Demand for nitrogen, a necessary and most often abused nutrient can be significantly reduced using cattle urine as fertilizer.
o Application of Cattle urine has also been reported to correct the micronutrient deficiency, besides improving the soil texture and working as a plant hormone. The salt and minerals found in urine help to compensate the micro nutrient deficiency in the plants.

Cattle urine to save bees:

Scientists in Uttarakhand are making use of Cattle urine to save bees from microbial diseases during their rearing process.

o Cattle urine facilitated rapid and holistic recovery in disease-infected combs, promoted the growth of brood, enhanced the efficiency of worker bees in the colonies, and thus revealed that the Cattle urine may serve as a potential eco-friendly measure for the management of European foulbrood, a serious bacterial disease of honeybee brood found throughout the world in honeybee colonies. It has an indirect control of mite diseases in colonies too.

Panchagavya:

o The Panchgavya products also show many other applications, viz. in agricultural operations in the form of excellent biofertilizers, vermicompost and biopesticides. Panchgavya improves soil fertility and provides food grains free from the hazards of using chemical fertilizers/pesticides. No other fertilizer in the world is as cheap and harmless as dung fertilizer.

How to prepare cattle urine for agricultural use:

o Cattle urine extract can be utilize after fermentation for 15 days along with plants, which possess antimicrobial or insect repellent properties, such as neem (Azadirachtaindica), Ginger (Zingiberofficinale), Eucalyptus obliqua, Calotropisprocera, Karanj (Millettiapinnata) etc.
o Photo-activation of Cattle urine can be carried out by maintaining it in sunlight for 72 h in a transparent glass beaker. Then, Cattle urine shall be filtered to free it from debris and precipitated materials. It has been reported by the researchers that, Photo-activated Cattle urine extract were more significant when compared with plant extract prepared with raw Cattle urine against pest and diseases of plants.
o Diluted cattle urine with 10 parts of water per unit part of urine can be used as an organic fertilizer.
o Diluted cattle urine with 5 parts of water per unit part of urine can be used as anaphids in the field.
o Panchgavya is a term used to describe five major substances, obtained from cow, which include urine (Gaumutra), dung (Gaumaya), milk (Gaudugdh), butter oil (Ghee) and curd (Gaudahi). The above ingredients were mixed and incubated for 15 days under shade in a plastic barrel covering with net cloth by stirring daily twice in the morning and evening. After 15 days of incubation, preparation called Panchagavya was utilized for composting one tonne of farm wastes/cherry husk/pulp @ of 2.51 diluted in 50 litres of water.