PUSA DECOMPOSER

Subject: Agriculture

Context: The Indian Agriculture Research Institute has developed a microbial cocktail – Pusa Decomposer – that can turn crop residue into manure in 20-25 days.

Concept :

PUSA Decomposers:

• The decomposers are in the form of capsules made by extracting fungi strains that help the paddy straw to decompose at a much faster rate than usual.
• The fungi help to produce the essential enzymes for the degradation process.

Decomposer Mixture:

• It involves making a liquid formulation using decomposer capsules and fermenting it over 8-10 days and then spraying the mixture on fields with crop stubble to ensure speedy bio-decomposition of the stubble.
• The farmers can prepare 25 litres of the liquid mixture with 4 capsules, jaggery, and chickpea flour. The mixture is sufficient to cover 1 hectare of land.

Time to Decompose:

• It takes around 20 days for the degradation process to be completed.
• Under usual circumstances, shredded and watered paddy straw, which is mixed with soil, takes at least 45 days to decompose.
• It does not give enough time for farmers to prepare fields for the wheat crop on time.

Benefits:

• The decomposer improves the fertility and productivity of the soil as the stubble works as manure and compost for the crops and lesser fertilizer consumption is required in the future.
• The soil loses its richness due to stubble burning and it also destroys the useful bacteria and fungi in the soil, apart from causing harm to the environment.
• It is an efficient and effective, cheaper, doable, and practical technique to stop stubble burning.
• It is an eco-friendly and environmentally useful technology and will contribute to achieving Swachh Bharat Mission.