JEEVAMRUTHA AS AN ALTERNATIVE OF CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS IN RICE PRODUCTION

Field experiments were conducted for three successive seasons of kharif and rabi during 2007 and 2009 at Kothavaripalli Village, Madanapalle Mandal of Chittoor District, Andhra Pradesh, with an objective to evaluate the impact of Jeevamrutha on yield and returns of two varieties of rice (Oryza sativa) Masura and Hamsa.  Jeevamrutham was prepared in the farm with urine and dung of native cows and the same was applied in cultivation of both varieties of rice.  The cost of production, yield net return and benefit-cost ratio were estimated using jeevamrutha and compared with those of chemical farming.  The analysis of the results showed that the yield with application of jeevamrutha is 2.775 tons /acre in Masura and 2.625 tons /acre in Hamsa variety of rice. These were 3.0 tons and 2.5 tons per acre by chemical method of farming.  It indicated that application of Jeevamrutham could yield better than chemical farming in Hamsa variety.  But the cost of cultivation was 18% higher in Masura and 19% higher in Hamsa variety of rice when grown with recommended dose of fertilizers as compared to the production using jeevamrutha.  In both the varieties benefit-cost ratio was better with application of Jeevamrutha method being 3.39 in Masura variety 3.0 in Hamsa as compared to 1.09 and 0.6 in chemical methods of rice production respectively. The economic analysis showed that jeevamrutha production method is commercially viable since it registered better net returns and benefit-cost ratio than recommended dose of fertilizers in rice production.