Question

Explain the method of replenishing the soil with nutrients without using manure and fertiliser.​

Answer 1

Answer :-

Field fallow, crop rotation and mixed cropping are three natural methods of replenishing the nutrients of the soil. These natural methods are not enough and farmers have to resort to manures and fertilisers.

Field fallow :-

A fallow field is land that a farmer plows but does not cultivate for one or more seasons to allow the field to become more fertile again.

The benefits of leaving land fallow for extended periods are given below:

1. Breaking crop pest and disease cycles.
2. Rebalancing soil nutrients.
3. Re-establishing soil biota.

Crop rotation :-

Crop rotation is the practice of planting different crops sequentially on the same plot of land to improve soil health, optimize nutrients in the soil, and combat pest and weed pressure.

Mixed cropping :-

In agriculture, multiple cropping is the method of growing two or more crops in the same piece of land in the same growing seasons instead of one crop.

Mixed cropping is also known as inter-cropping, polyculture, or co-cultivation.

It is a type of agriculture that requires planting two or more plants simultaneously in the same field, interdigitating the plants so that they grow together.