Course Code: BP603T

Course Title: Herbal Drug Technology

Course Leader: Dr. Ashoka Babu V.L

ashokababu.pc.ph@msruas.ac.in

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 Lecture No.12
Organic Farming

At the end of this lecture, student will be able to

• Discuss the objectives of organic farming

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 Content
Organic Farming

Faculty of Pharmacy © Ramaiah University of Applied Sciences

 Organic Farming

 Organic farming is a method of crop production with an

objective not to use pesticides, fertilizers, genetically
modified organisms, and growth hormones
 organic farming system depend upon crop rotations, animal
manures, green manures, off farm organic wastes, bio
fertilizers,, biological control to maintain soil productivity and
to control insect, weeds and other pests

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 Organic Farming

 Use of excessive chemical fertilizers and toxic pesticides

polluted the land and water deeply. This leads to severe
environmental penalty like loss of topsoil, decrease in soil
fertility, surface and ground water contamination
 Organic farming methods produce even higher yields than
conventional methods

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 Organic Farming

Objectives of organic farming

 To protect the environment, decrease soil degradation and
erosion, decrease pollution, optimize biological productivity
 To maintain long-term soil fertility by optimizing conditions
for biological activity within the soil

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 Organic Farming

 To provide considerate care that promotes health and meets

the behavioural needs of livestock
 To prepare organic products by careful processing, and
handling methods in order to maintain the organic qualities of
the products at all stages of production

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 Importance of organic farming
Organic farming provides many benefits like:-
 Provides better nutrition: organic food is rich in nutrients.
Organic farming increases the nutrients of the soil which is
passed on to the plants and animals
 Helps us to stay healthy: organic foods do not contain any
chemical as organic farmers don’t use chemicals at any stage
of the food-growing. Organic farmers use natural farming
techniques which do not harm humans and environment
 Free of poison: organic farmers do not make use of
poisonous chemicals like pesticides and weedicides. As
organic farming avoids these toxins, it reduces the chances
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 Importance of organic farming
 Lower prices: organic foods are cheaper as they don’t use
application of expensive pesticides, insecticides, and
weedicides
 Improved taste: organic food tastes better than other food.
The sugar content in organically grown fruits and vegetables
provide them extra taste
 Organic farming methods are eco-friendly: organic farming
does not utilize harsh chemicals so; the environment
including plant life, animals, and humans remain protected
 Longer shelf-life: organic plants have greater metabolic and
structural reliability in their cellular structure than
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 Organic farming
Organic farming includes:-
• Fertilizers :
• Organic farming does not use synthetic fertilizers and in order
to build and maintain a rich, living soil addition of organic
matter is done. This includes the application of manure,
compost and animal by-products like feather meal or blood
meal
• The USDA National Organic Standards direct that raw
manure must be applied no later than 90 or 120 days before
harvest

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 Organic farming
 Compost adds organic matter to the soil and provides a wide
range of nutrients for plants, and adds helpful microbes to the
soil. These nutrients are mostly in an un-mineralized form
which cannot be taken up by plants, soil microbes and it is
required to break down organic matter into mineralized form
 Soil is maintained by planting and then ploughing in cover
crops, which help to protect the soil from erosion and provide
additional organic matter. The ploughing of nitrogen-fixing
cover crops adds nitrogen to the soil. Cover crops are
commonly planted before or after the main crop season or
with crop rotation
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 Organic farming

Pest control
• Organic pesticides are generally used in organic farming and
are derived from naturally occurring sources
• These include living organisms like Bacillus Thuringiensis,
which is used to control caterpillar or plant derivatives like
pyrethrins (from the dried flower heads of Chrysanthemum
cinerariifolium) or neem oil (from the seeds of Azadirachta
indica)
• Mineral-based inorganic pesticides like sulphur and copper
are also used
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 Organic farming

 Along with the use of bio-pesticides, organic pest control

utilizes biological, genetical control method to decrease pest
damage
 Biological control uses the natural enemies of pests

For example certain wasps to attack insect pests

 Method of traditional plant breeding has produced numerous
crop varieties that are resistant to particular pests

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 Organic farming
• Soil: Health of the soil maintained by adding manure, or
compost and other organic material in place of synthetic
fertilizers. Biological fertilizers like compost release the
nutrients slowly, increase the capacity to retain the moisture
and reduce the leaching of nitrates into ground water
• Crop rotation: Organic farmers do not grow the same crop on
the same field year after year. Crop rotation naturally reloads
the soil as different plants provide different nutrients to the
soil. It also disrupts the habitats of insect pests and weeds
and helps to control them

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 Organic Farming

Cover crops: Cover crops like clover, rye, and wheat are planted
between growing seasons which help to refill the soil with
nutrients and prevents soil erosion. They also control weeds by
suffocating and shading by them

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 Disclaimer

All data and content provided in the presentation are taken from
the reference books, internet-websites and links for
informational purpose only

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