Indian Agricultural Research Institute scientists have identified two fungus species that can convert chopped paddy straw into organic manure. As fodder for farm animals, straw has poor nutritive value. However, farmers can make the most out of it when it is converted into manure.
The recipe: prepare a mixture of straw, urea and a little phosphate in humid conditions. Inoculate the straw with the two fungi, Pleutos sajor-caju and Trichoderma reesi, and in about 4 months' time, the manure will have formed. The researchers say that the manure obtained from straw enhances wheat yields by 40 per cent.
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