Liquid organic manures in boosting plant health and yield: A review

Liquid organic manures (LOMs) play an important role along with other organic inputs for maintaining soil productivity under organic management. LOMs are aqueous products prepared from the plant or animal derivatives mainly used as plant nutrient sources. These are locally available, easily preparable, less expensive, eco-friendly biodegradable and nonhazardous products. Commonly used LOMs are cow urine, cow-dung slurry, panchagavya, jeevemrutha, dasagavya, vermi wash, compost tea, green leaf extract, fish amino acid etc. In addition to their nutrients status, LOMs also contain plant growth promoting hormones like IAA and GA, beneficial microorganisms like N₂ fixers, phosphate solubilizing bacteria and enzymes. They play a vital role in enhancing crop productivity with sustaining the soil health. In addition to this, the pesticidal nature of the LOMs also resists the insect and disease infestation in the plant. Thereby, the use of LOMs supports the farmers with sustainable yield production. Volatilization of NH₃ is one of the main constraints when LOMs are used as foliar spray. This can be minimized by applying them early in the morning or late afternoon. Though, the collection and transportation of raw materials are tedious, the preparation of LOMs can be made easy by effective utilization of available on farm sources