RESPONSE OF TOMATO (Solanum lycopersicum L.) TO HOMA ORGANIC FARMING PRACTICES

Thesis submitted to the University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad

in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of

MASTER OF SCIENCE (AGRICULTURE)

IN

PLANT BIOCHEMISTRY

BY

BRUNDA R.

DEPARTMENT OF BIOCHEMISTRY COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE, DHARWAD

UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES, DHARWAD – 580 005

JUNE, 2011

ADVISORY COMMITTEE

DHARWAD JUNE, 2011 (P.W. BASARKAR) CHAIRMAN

Approved by : Chairman: _________________________ (P.W. BASARKAR) Members : 1. _______________________

(P.R. DHARMATTI)

2. _______________________ (A.A. PATIL)

3. _______________________ (H.B. BABALAD)

4. _______________________ (SHRIPAD KULKARNI) 5. _______________________ (N.F. UPPINAL)

CONTENTS

Sl. No. Chapter Particulars

CERTIFICATE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

LIST OF TABLES

LIST OF FIGURES

LIST OF PLATES

1. INTRODUCTION

2. REVIEW OF LITERATURE

2.1 Organic farming in relation to growth and yield of tomato

2.2 Organic farming in relation to crop quality

2.3 Soil biological properties

2.4 Effect of organic sources on pests and diseases of tomato

2.5 Macro and micro nutrients

2.6 Homa research

3. MATERIAL AND METHODS

3.1 Experimental site

3.2 Soil characteristics

3.3 Experimental details

3.4 Treatment details

3.5 Resonance point (Agnihotra homa hut)

3.6 Om Tryambakam homa hut

3.7 Cultural Operations

3.8 Collection of Experimental Data

3.9 Yield and yield attributing characters

3.10 Quality Parameters

3.11 Micro flora (bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes)

3.12 Enzyme activity

3.13 Soil analysis

3.14 Disease incidence and insect attack

3.15 Statistical analysis

Sl. No. Chapter Particulars

4. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

4.1 Agronomical observations

4.2 Yield and yield parameter

4.3 Soil analysis

4.4 Microbial observations

4.5 Activity of soil dehydrogenase

4.6 Activity of soil phosphatase

4.7 Quality parameters

4.8 Disease incidence

4.9 Pest incidence

5. DISCUSSION

5.1 Effect of homa farming practices on growth and yield of tomato crop

5.2 Effect of homa farming practices on soil macro and micro nutrient properties

5.3 Effect of homa practices on soil biological properties

5.4 Effect of homa organic practices farming on quality of tomato crop

5.5 Effect of homa farming practices on pest and diseases

6 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

REFERENCES

LIST OF TABLES

Table No.

Title

1 Plant height, number of branches and number of leave in Tomato (Var. DMT-2) as influenced by different treatments

2 Root length and dry matter in Tomato (Var.DMT-2) as influenced by different treatments

3 Yield parameters of Tomato (Var. DMT 2) as influenced by different treatments

4 Soil available nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium at flowering stage and crop harvest Tomato (Var.DMT-2) as influenced by different treatments

5 Soil micronutrient content at flowering stage and after harvest of tomato (Var.DMT-2) field as influenced by different treatments

6 Microbial count for bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes in soil as influenced by different treatments in Tomato (Var.DMT-2) field

7 Soil dehydrogenase and phosphatase activities as influenced by different treatments in Tomato (Var.DMT-2) field

8 Ascorbic acid, lycopene and phenol content of Tomato (Var.DMT-2) as influenced by different treatments

9 Shelf life, total sugar and TSS content of Tomato (Var.DMT-2) as influenced by different treatments

10 Leaf spot and fruit borer in Tomato (Var.DMT-2) field as influenced by different treatments

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure No.

Title

1a Homa organic complex

1b Agnihotra homa assembly

1c Shree Yantram

2 Layout of Agnihotra homa hut and inside view of Agnihotra homa hut

3 Layout of Om Tryambakam homa hut

4 Layout of Resonance Point on Homa farm

5a Plant height in Tomato (Var. DMT-2) as influenced by different treatments

5b Number of branches and number of leaves in Tomato (Var. DMT-2) as influenced by different treatments

6 Root length and dry matter in Tomato (Var. DMT-2) as influenced by different treatments

7 Yield parameters of Tomato (Var. DMT 2) as influenced by different treatments

8a Soil available nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium at flowering stage in Tomato (Var. DMT-2) as influenced by different treatments

8b Soil available nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium at crop harvest stage in Tomato (Var. DMT-2) as influenced by different treatments

9a Soil micronutrient content at flowering stage of Tomato (Var. DMT-2) field as influenced by different treatments

9b Soil micronutrient content at after harvest of Tomato (Var. DMT-2) field as influenced by different treatments

10a Microbial count for bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes in soil at flowering stage as influenced by different treatments in Tomato (Var. DMT-2) field

10b Microbial count for bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes in soil at crop harvest stage as influenced by different treatments in Tomato (Var. DMT-2) field

11 Soil dehydrogenase and phosphatase activities as influenced by different treatments in Tomato (Var. DMT-2) field

12 Ascorbic acid, lycopene and phenol content of Tomato (Var. DMT-2) as influenced by different treatments

13 Shelf life, total sugar and TSS content of Tomato (Var. DMT-2) as influenced by different treatments

14 Leaf spot and fruit borer in Tomato (Var. DMT-2) field as influenced by different treatments

LIST OF PLATES

Plate No.

Title

1 Outside view of Agnihotra homa hut

2 Activated copper semi-pyramid lowered in the pit in Agnihotra homa hut

3 Inside view of Agnihotra homa hut

4 Outside view of Om Tryambakam homa hut

5 Front view of Biosol drum

6 General view of the Tomato field at C-block

7 Healthy tomato fruits from Biosol treatment (T10)

LIST OF APPENDIX

Appendix No.

Title

1 Mantras used in ‘Homa therapy’

2 Special terms used in this investigation

3 Sunrise and sunset timings

4 Resonance point layout

5 Biosol composition

6 Media composition for microbial studies

1. INTRODUCTION

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) belongs to family Solanaceae having chromosome number 2n = 24. It is a self pollinated crop. Peru - Ecuador region is considered to be its center of origin. Tomato was introduced by the Portuguese. Tomato is exported in the form of whole fruit, paste and in canned form to West Asian countries, UK, Canada and USA. Tomato is cultivated in tropics and sub-tropics of the world. It is cultivated in kitchen gardens, commercial fields, under greenhouse and polyhouse conditions and soil-less culture or under hydroponic system. Tomato is an important vegetable crop grown throughout the world and ranks next to potato in terms of the area but ranks first as a processing crop. The major states producing tomato are Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Karnataka, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Assam.

The quality of fresh tomato fruit is determined by various attributes such as appearance, firmness, flavour, and nutritional value. Consumers purchase tomatoes largely based on appearance and eating quality. Tomato colour is greatly correlated with lycopene content and as the fruit develops from the mature green stage to the red stage, lycopene concentration increases significantly (Dumas et al., 2003 and Brandt et al., 2006).

Tomato eating quality is an important factor that contributes to consumer acceptability in addition to colour and firmness, measurements of acidity, total soluble solids and sugar to acid ratio. These factors are also used for desirable sweet and sour flavour attributes in tomato fruit (Baldwin et al., 1998). Tomato fruit ripened on plant has higher total solids, soluble solids, and reducing sugar content than those ripened off the plant. Fruit harvested at the table-ripe stage has a higher fruity–floral aroma, is sweeter, and is less sour as compared with that of harvested at the mature green or light pink stage (Kader et al., 1978 and Watada and Aulenbach, 1979).

It is believed that consumption of one tomato per day enhances health status of an individual and it is considered to be important constituent in the diet as it has quite high nutritive value. It contains higher quantity of total sugar (2.5-4.5%), starch (0.6-1.2%) and minerals like potassium, calcium, sodium, magnesium, phosphorus, manganese, zinc, copper iron etc. apart from what is known as health acids in fresh tomato.

Ripe tomatoes (red) contain on an average 94 per cent water, 5 per cent carbohydrates, 0.9 per cent proteins, 1 per cent fiber, 19 mg of vitamin C, and 623 IU of vitamin A per 100 g of fresh fruit (Marlett and Vollendorf, 1993), However, depending on the type of tomato cultivar, ascorbic acid content varied between 14.6 and 21.7 mg per 100 g fresh weight (Abushita et al., 2000).

Modern agriculture, which largely depends on chemical fertilisers, pesticides, herbicides, etc., though led to increased production, has adversely affected the soil productivity and environmental quality. During the era of green revolution, spectacular increase in crop yields resulted primarily from the introduction of fertiliser responsive high yielding varieties. Further, use of chemical pesticides and fungicides has caused health hazards and environmental pollution apart from imparting resistance to the causal agents against chemical pesticides and fungicides.

This conventional or modern farming is also beset with ecological, economical, soil, human health and philosophical concerns. Sustainable agriculture is supposed to be the right answer for tackling various issues which cropped up during the recent times due to invariably excessive dependence on synthetic chemicals. Organic farming takes care of these aspects and therefore, now-a-days, it is gaining importance. The word organic means originated from living things and organic farming is to make production system alive with long life. It is similar to other sustainable farming systems, viz., permaculture, eco-farming, etc., which are based on harmony with nature or near to nature’s approach. Long term experiments with fertilisers have made clear the negative impact of continuous use of chemicals on soil health. Yadav (2003) reported that the large scale usage of chemical fertilisers with one or two nutrient elements had caused increased deficiencies of several secondary elements like S and Ca and micronutrients like Zn, Mn, Fe, B and Cu which were causing serious concern in limiting the sustainability of the production system.

Consequently, many farmers are adopting alternative practice of organic farming to make crop cultivation sustainable. Organic farming is not mere non-chemical agriculture, it is a system integrating relationship between soil, plant, water, soil micro flora and fauna. Organic farming helps in creating healthy soil, in regulating proper energy flow in soil-crop-water environment systems, keeps biological life cycle moving and helps in sustaining considerable levels in the yield (Lampkin, 1990).

The organically produced fruits, vegetables, spices and condiments, crops, medicinal and aromatic plants have good keeping quality than that of conventionally grown products. The sustainable agriculture practices can effectively prevent the entry of pesticides and toxicants in the food chain and prevent soil and water pollution. It is adopted with a blend of ecologically safe modern technologies. The organic agriculture, though not in its orthodox version, has the potential to be accepted by the farmers (Natarajan, 2002; Pathak and Ram, 2007 and Sreenivasa et al., 2009).

Cow has played a vital role in Indian agriculture for centuries and has served as a source of nutrition and prosperity for farming community by providing energy and social status. We are directly benefited from cow in terms of milk production, dung and urine as well as milk products like curd, butter and ghee. Cow is the central focal point in Indian agriculture which is utilised 100 per cent in organic farming as well as in Homa organic farming (HOF).

The HOF is a low-cost technology process for the betterment of crops, microbes, animals, human beings and plants in agriculture, horticulture and forestry which purifies the atmosphere through a specially prepared fire. It is smallest yajnya or homa and forms the basis of HOF with this back ground present study has been undertaken with the following objectives:

1. To heal and improve the lands that we cultivate rather than polluting them with chemicals.

2. To grow superior crops without using chemical fertilizers and pesticides. 3. To heal the atmosphere

The homa farming process involves preparing a small fire with dried cow-dung cakes in a copper semi-pyramid of fixed size and offering two pinch-full of whole unpolished, uncooked grains of organically grown rice and ghee (clarified unsalted butter) to the fire exactly at sun rise and sun set. It has three specific requirements:

1. Burning of cow dung cakes in a copper semi-pyramid of fixed size.

2. Chanting of specific mantras.

3. Timings according to ‘Circadian rhythm’ of nature i.e. sun rise and sun set timings of a particular place depending upon its longitude and latitude.

Healing powers of Agnihotra and other yajnyas is also referred to as ‘Homa therapy’.

India is the birth place of Agnihotra and finds its place in Vruksha Ayurveda (Johnson and Heschl, 2009). Due to its beneficial effects on human beings, animals, insects, micro-organisms and plants, it is practiced in 75 countries and the leader among them is South American Republic of Peru. Three Agricultural universities, namely Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore and Himachal Pradesh Agricultural University, Palampur and University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad have started experiments on HOF during past 6-8 years.

Modern science speaks only of soil and water analysis but not about the atmosphere. Ancient science of HOMA reveals that more nutrition to plants, and soil comes from the atmosphere. If the atmosphere is made more nutritious and fragrant by HOMA, a type of protective coating comes on the plants and therefore diseases and pests do not thrive. Respiration process hastens and the toxic effect of choking and death due to atmospheric toxins is reduced.

In the soil rejuvenated by homa, different types of microorganisms thrive and create healthy micro-flora and micro-fauna. After the creation of such healthy micro environment, creatures like earthworms thrive better.

They eat soil, digest it and again replenish the soil. Increased quantity and quality in production, reduced cost of labour and saving cost of agrochemicals are other benefits of HOF. ‘Homa therapy’ produce is more superior in taste, size, texture and nutrition because of elimination of toxins with prolonged shelf life by shortening the productive cycle. With this background, field investigations were carried out at Main Agricultural Research station, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad with the following objectives.

Objectives of Investigation

To study the effect of Homa organic farming practices on

1. The growth, yield and quality of tomato.

2. Chemical properties of soil and soil fertility.

3. Beneficial organisms and biological activity in rhizosphere soil.

4. The pest and disease management of tomato.

2. REVIEW OF LITERATURE

The literature available on organic farming and HOF on tomato, fruits, vegetables and other crops is discussed here under.

2.1 Organic farming in relation to growth and yield of tomato

Organically grown tomato gave fruit yield of 26.8 t ha-1

which was equal to the yield of 27.8 t ha

-1 obtained at recommended practice of conventional farming (Thamburaj, 1994).

Dhanalakshmi and Pappiah (1995) observed that the application of 75 per cent of N along with Azospirillum inoculation through seed and soil increased the yield of tomato.

The plant height of tomato was significantly higher when it was nourished with vermicompost at 75 and 95 days after planting (Patil, 1995). Madhukeshwara et al. (1996) reported that vermicompost could be used as an ideal organic substrate for raising healthy tomato seedlings. Significant improvements in growth parameters like shoot height, root length and leaf area of the seedling were reported.

Application of organic manures along with recommended dose of fertilizers showed superior performance in respect of growth and fruit yield of tomato (Sendur Kumaran et al. 1998).

After eight years of compost amendment, Pascual et al. (1999) recorded higher activities of dehydrogenase, urease and phosphatase in the soil compared to control. The organic amendments had a positive effect on the activity of these enzymes, particularly when the amendment was with the highest dose and they attributed it to the increased microbial biomass produced in the system.

Chaurasia et al. (2001) found that the application of Azotobacter to soil @ 15 kg per ha or combined application to soil and seedling inoculation enhanced the shelf life of tomato by 6-8 days and also improved total soluble sugar content (4.6%) of fruits.

Renuka and Ravishankar (2001) observed vigorous growth of tomato crop with early flowering and high yields (47.6 t ha

-1) with the application of FYM in combination with biogas

slurry. They recorded an increase in yield of tomato of two and half times over the inorganic fertilizer application (18.4 t/ha). In an experiment conducted by them the application of biogas slurry with FYM, vermicompost with FYM and vermicompost alone recorded maximum fruit size and more number of fruits per plant, while inorganic fertilizers (NPK) recorded minimum fruit size. It was inferred that tomato crop would respond well to the application of organic manures either in combination with FYM or alone. Further they obtained that application of organic manures helps to maintain good soil health.

Sable et al. (2007) observed that the marketable fruit yield and dry matter yield were higher in tomato when organic amendments were applied (83-93%) than inorganic fertilisers (77.5%). They also observed that nutrient uptake, quality of fruits and availability of nutrients in soil after the harvest were higher in tomato crop raised with the use of organic source of nutrients through neem cake and vermicompost.

Babalad et al. (2008) observed that in the organic farming, to replace the chemical fertilizers by organic sources, the quantity required per hectare shall be calculated on the basis of the NPK equivalent depending upon the crops. The numerous micro-organisms growing in the soil are capable of providing nutrients required by the crop. The soil micro flora need adequate quantity of organic manures as feed for their survival and multiplication.

Shwetha (2008) found significantly higher microbial activity in treatments given with organic manures and fermented organics over RDF with FYM and fermented organics alone.

2.2 Organic farming in relation to crop quality

In addition to the increased biomass, the organic farming is expected to give good quality produce, free from residues of pesticides and increased nutrients.

Phenolic compounds have been found to play important roles in determining resistance or susceptibility of a host to parasitic infection. A resistant variety may contain more phenolic than a susceptible variety (Rubin and Akesenova, 1957 and Raghunathan et al., 1958).

Chinnaswami and Mariakulandai (1966) in an organic and inorganic manurial trial on tomato var. Co.1 found that combined application of FYM and inorganic mixture increased the protein content as compared with groundnut cake and inorganic fertilizer alone.

For the realisation of their protective action, phenolic compounds must be liberated from inactive forms, since it is precisely in the free state that polyphenols manifest the higher fungi and cytotoxicity (Friend, 1979).

Lindner (1985) found that vegetables produced under organic system had better taste. Duden (1987) has also found taste differences in flavour of organically or biodynamically produced tomatoes and potatoes, respectively.

Jeeva (1987) reported that total soluble solids (TSS), total sugar and sugar to acid ratios were greatly and positively influenced by the inoculation of Azospirillum to banana crop over uninoculated control.

Patil et al. (1998) reported that vermicompost increased number of tomato fruits per plant from 16 in control to 26 due to application of vermicompost.

Many studies in the recent past have demonstrated better quality of organic vegetables than inorganic vegetables (Montagu and Goh, 1990 and Krospise,1992) such as carrots having better β-carotene (>12%), vitamin C content (>11%), less nitrate in celeriac, excellent flavour, aroma. Organically grown carrot was richer in β-carotene and vitamin B complex than under mineral fertilisation.

Vermicompost had significant influence on the production of vitamin and sugars content of cherry tomatoes (Premuzic et al., 2001).

Caris-Veyrat et al. (2004) reported higher content of β-carotene and lycopene of tomatoes when cultivated under organic condition as compared to conventional farming. They attributed soil fertility differences to those measured in lycopene content.

Ramesh et al. (2005) found that as the number of minerals in added organic sources are too many (macro, micro and trace elements) as compared to fertilizers, the general claim that products produced by organic methods contain a better balance of vitamins and minerals Fanasco et al. (2006) reported that a high proportion of K in the nutrient solution increased quality attributes such as lycopene content. The least lycopene content was observed in the application of RDF in this study.

Rathod et al. (2008) observed that the recommended dose of NPK (200, 100, 100 kg ha

-1) without any organic fertilizers produced highest yield but poor juice quality. When

combined with vermicompost at 50 per cent level, it produced good quality juice with optimum yield of tomato cv. Bhagyashree.

Kumar et al. (2008) observed changes in biochemical traits at different stages of harvesting of determinate tomato cv. Kashi vishesh (H-86). Fruits were harvested at mature green breaker, turning pink, light red and red stages to quantify fruit quality parameters. Total soluble solids, vitamin C, total carotenoids and lycopene content increased from mature green to red stage.

Rao et al. (2008) observed that organically grown crops had significantly higher levels of vitamin C, Mg, P, Fe and secondary metabolites including antioxidants which help to protect against cancer and many other life-style diseases by neutralising the harmful effects of free-radicals in the human body.

2.3 Soil biological properties

The soil biochemical reactions are mediated by enzymes, present in soil microbes. Favourable influences on these activities by addition of organics are documented by many workers.

Kamalesh et al. (1991) reported that continuous application of FYM increased the total microbial biomass in the soil. They also reported that the soil dehydrogenase activity was more with FYM treatment than other treatments.

The total microbial activity of cellulolytic and lignolytic organisms was on the higher side in the soil treated with vermicompost (Kale et al. 1992).

Gaonker et al. (1993) reported that soil inoculated with soil amendments like biogas slury, FYM and groundnut cake increased the soil bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes.

Singaram and Kamalakumari (1995) reported that activities of six - soil enzymes related to cycling carbon (amylase and cellulase), nitrogen (dehydrogenase and urease), phosphate (phosphatase and phosphorylase) and catalase were found to be maximum in the treatment that received FYM.

Vermicompost from biological sludge was incorporated in to clay soil and soil biochemical activity was assessed (Masciandaro et al., 1997). The addition of vermicompost sludge stimulated the activities of dehydrogenase, protease and phosphatase enzymes.

The application of vermicompost to tomato and pepper (@ 4.5 t/ha) increased soil

bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes (Gunadi et al., 1999). The activities of dehydrogenase, protease, cellulase, amylase and urease showed significant increase over control.

2.4 Effect of organic sources on pest and disease of tomato

Rao et al. (1997) reported that application of Glomu fasciculatum with caster cake @ 500 g and 400 g m

2, respectively in tomato recorded highest seedling weight and less number

of galls in nematode infected soils.

Vanitha and Ramachandran (1999) reported that spraying of leaf extract of prosopios and nochi leaf extract (10%) was effective in reducing late blight disease of tomato than control.

Praveen and Dhandapani (2001) reported that three sprays of oil (0.3% @ 1 l / ha) or three releases of the predator, Chrysoperla carnea @ 50,000 grubs per ha in each release were found to be effective against sucking pest viz. leaf hopper (Amrasca biguttula biguttula) and white flies (Bemesia tabaci) in the crop period of tomato.

Field evaluation of pesticides from synthetic and biological origin against the key pest of tomato viz. leaf minor and fruit borer during the late season in Terai region of West Bengal revealed that the biological pesticides (Azadirachitin, Bacillus thuringiensis, Beauveria basiana and NPV) were equally and even more effective over synthetic pesticides (Chaudhuri and Senapati, 2001).

Vanitha and Suresh (2002) reported that the spraying of Adathoda leaf extract (10%) was equally effective as that of existing practice of spraying monocrotophos (0.15%) and both the treatments recorded the least incidence of tomato spotted wilt virus (10.00 and 10.21%, respectively) than control.

2.5 Macro and micro nutrients

Chellamuthu (1978) reported that application of N as FYM at 90 kg ha-1

registered the highest available N content amongst the organic sources of N and control. The increase in available N status by continuous addition of FYM was also reported by Singh et al. (1980) and Gupta et al. (1983). Muthuvel et al. (1990) opined that the higher available N content of soil with the addition of FYM could be due to favourable microbial activity and enhanced biomass addition to the soil probably as a result of improved soil physical properties. The available N was higher in treatments which received entire dose of N as organic manure (Prameela, 1996).

Singh et al. (1980) reported that continuous application of FYM had resulted in a build up of available K in sandy loam soil. Khani and More (1984), Chellamuthu et al. (1988) and Raju et al. (1991) found that use of FYM @ 6.2 t per ha improved the K availability. Application of FYM @ 20 t per ha maintained the levels of available micronutrients such as Fe, Zn and Cu much higher than their initial levels (Katyal, 1986).

Reddy and Mahesh (1995) reported increased availability of nitrogen in soil by the application of vermicompost as compared to FYM. Balaji (1994) found that application of vermicompost in combination with inorganic fertilizers in China aster increased the available N content of the soil. Earthworms can increase nitrogen availability by reducing microbial immobilization and enhancing mineralisation (Blait et al., 1996). Ram and Srivastava (1997) observed a significant increase in available nitrogen content of soil where rice was grown with combined application of inorganic fertilizer and vermicompost. Jadhav et al. (2001) observed higher soil available N content in the treatment receiving vermicompost at 5 t per ha alone and in combination with 100 per cent RDF. They further studied the available micronutrient content of soil as influenced by application of vermicompost and in-situ vermiculture. A significant increase in the available Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu status was observed in the treatment which received vermicompost with RDF than in the treatment that received N, P and K alone.

Incorporation of coir pith in to the potting medium increased the available K status of the soil Sarvanan and Baskar (1997). Patil and Bhilare (2000) found that the combination of press mud vermicompost with FYM resulted in the highest soil available P. Similarly, application of vermicompost in combination with FYM recorded highest phosphorus content of the soil (Rao and Sankar, 2001).

2.6 Homa research

The scientific literature on the effect of homa organic inputs on tomato is next to nil. Hence effect of homa organic farming (HOF) on other crops is presented here.

Bhujbal (1981) conducted some experiments on germination of grape seeds and cuttings in Agnihotra homa atmosphere. Despite the use of modern technology like use of hormones, scarification, stratification etc., germination of grape vines was very low (only 20%) and took as much as 300 days to sprout. With these lacunae in mind, seeds of popular varieties like Anab-e-shahi, Kali sahebi, local Vinefra and some crossed seeds were chosen for study. These seeds were kept in Agnihotra homa environment and were also treated with Agnihotra homa ash. First sprouting took place only after 21 days after sowing (DAS) as against control taking six months or more. Besides this, 100 per cent rooting in Agnihotra homa ash treated cuttings was observed as compared to only 80 per cent rooting in control without Agnihotra homa ash treatment. The loss at harvest was nil, the crop was disease free and the colour was golden yellow with quality TSS of 24 per cent in Agnihotra homa ash treated cuttings as compared to 30 per cent loss at harvest and yellow green colour in the control group. He also observed that Agnihotra homa atmosphere helps in raisin making from grapes. Drying of bunches in Agnihotra homa atmosphere was complete in 21 days with the development of good taste in 35 days.

Bhujbal (1982) studied spoilage of food grains due to pest. A chemical pesticide, BHC (1%) and Agnihotra homa ash (1%) were found to be effective when these grains were observed for 90 days. However, housewives rejected BHC due to offensive smell.

Mishra (1982 a) studied the effect of Agnihotra homa ash on Varuna variety of mustard seeds. Seeds were treated for 24 h with fresh cow dung and cow urine and Agnihotra homa ash before sowing and equal quantity was kept untreated as control. The experiment consisted of four treatments-(i) seed treatment with dusting of Agnihotra homa ash on standing crop at an interval of 15 days (ii) seed treatment without dusting of Agnihotra homa ash, (iii) No seed treatment but dusting of Agnihotra homa ash and (iv) No seed treatment and no dusting of Agnihotra homa ash. Agnihotra homa ash treated seeds with dusting of homa ash gave 30 per cent higher yield.

Mishra (1982 b) studied Agnihotra homa practices on grain preservation in mustard crop and reported that there was reduction in infection from Alternaria blight while experimenting with Agnihotra homa ash.

Mondkar (1982) studied the effect of Agnihotra homa atmosphere on aerial micro flora. Agar Petri plates were kept away from Agnihotra pot, distances varying from 5’8” to 7’6”. After exposure to Agnihotra atmosphere for 2 h, microbial count was recorded. Bacterial colonies of Staphyllococcus albus, Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli, Enterococci, Streptococcus pyogenens and Diplococcus pneumonia grown before Agnihotra homa showed a definite reduction in colony count in 30-60 min.

Davis (1983) observed that Gypsy Moth infestation was defoliating large area of forest. In an experiment conducted on chosen site in Cecil county of Maryland (USA), he observed that Agnihotra homa ash served as an adjunct, whereas only chemical spraying did not control the pest in that area.

Fernandes (1985) did ‘Homa farming’ in Chile a South American country on fruit plants such as tangerins, oranges, lemons, grape fruits, peaches, pears, apricots, apples, almonds, plums, figs, avocados etc. and experienced beneficial effect on fruit yield even when they were only one year old. Fernandes also found that with the use of Agnihotra homa ash, height of Lima-beans reached 1.6 meter as against 0.8 meter commonly found in that area and the yield improved abundantly. He further reported that Canadeal Barba Negra variety of wheat when planted very close to the place where daily Agnihotra was performed received smoke from Agnihotra fire enabled the wheat crop to grow very high and yield was double.

Medina (1985) observed the following effects of ‘Homa therapy’ technique:

Size of Zucchini (a kind of vegetable), increased to as large as 40 cm in length and 15 cm in diameter. The vegetable changed genetically in a positive way and the flavour too was better than before. In the previous year, there was ‘Grapholita’ kind of insect infection on the Pear fruits. Following year with the use of ‘Homa therapy’ technique, beautiful big size fruits were grown. The taste was superb and yield was great. He also found termites on grapes and observed phosphorus with insecticides killed only adult termites but larvae continued to burrow in to the plants. When Agnihotra ash solution was used for disinfection, termites disappeared totally.

Mishra (1987) conducted experiments on germination, yield per plant, pest control etc. in cereal crops. He observed that in cultivation of wheat crop, Agnihotra homa farming gave better yield as compared to traditional method. Germination was found to be 95 per cent in Agnihotra Homa farming as compared to traditional farming, whereas in control it was only 80 per cent. More number of tillers per plant was also recorded in Agnihotra homa farming as compared to traditional farming and control.

Tung Ming (1987) reported that Agnihotra homa ash (0.02 g ash/g soil) when mixed with soil increased the soluble phosphates. 0.02 g of Agnihotra homa ash was shaken with 25 ml of water for 48 h and water soluble phosphates measured. The same amount of Agnihotra homa ash was mixed with 5 g each of Weld loam and Red Feather Loamy sandy soils, 25 ml of water was mixed and shaken for 48 h and measured for water soluble phosphates. It was found that phosphates increased from 4.2 to 17.2 µg per g of soil in Weld loam soil and from 2.3 to 11.5 µg per g of soil in Red Feather Loamy Sandy soil, clearly establishing the role of Agnihotra ash in trapping water soluble phosphates in soils.

Flanagan (1989) provided physical explanation of de-polluting effect of Agnihotra. He stated that colloidal molecule of cow ghee and cow manure could chelatingly attract and grab pollutants in the air, the way water is purified by being flocculated. The seized molecule settles on the ground and makes the soil alkaline and when comes in contact with plant, sticks to leaves, acts as time-released foliar nutrient. Ghee and manure makes the smoke electrically charged.

Potdar (1992) reported scientific values of the ingredients used in Agnihotra in a book edited by him in Hindi - ‘Agnihotra - Oushadhi nirman tatha chikitsa’. The values were reported for uncooked rice, rice ash, fresh cow dung, cow’s ghee and Agnihotra homa ash. In the rice ash, K was 21.37 per cent and phosphoric acid was 53.68 per cent. The Agnihotra homa ash was reported to possess 97 per cent P2O5 and smoke from Agnihotra homa was

reported to contain substances like formaldehyde, ethylene oxide, propylene oxide and β-propiolactone.

Bizberg (2009) reported excellent homa farming results from Tara Mountains in the hilly region of Poland. He reported that the overall acidity of the soils in Poland was very high (pH 4.85) and worst was his garden soil with pH 4.4. It was impossible to grow anything in such acidic soil conditions, except for acid-loving fruits like berries and pine trees, which grew dominantly in that region. Due to pine forests, the soil was acidic. The soil in the region was also rock hard with high clay content, making it extremely difficult to farm normally. He started performing Agnihotra in 1996 daily and a couple of years later started Om Tryambakam homa for two hours daily. Ploughing was very shallow, about 5-10 cm deep due to sticky and hard

condition of the clay in his farm house. Later he added truck load of compost over an area of 2500 m

2. In spite of adding only small amount of compost, cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce,

capsicum etc. grew well in the first year. Each following year he grew more varieties of vegetables were grown and his garden was expanded to 5000 m

2. The Om Tryambakam

homa period was increased to four hours per day. Agnihotra homa ash was mixed in the compost, soil and water and Agnihotra homa ash for transplanting and seeding as well.

Bizberg’s farm was not free from weeds and cabbage white butterfly larvae. The problem was solved by attracting nature’s predators-frogs, lizards, ladybugs, dragonflies, beetles, birds etc. Within a few years, nature began to bring itself into balance. Fermented liquid manure from fresh cow dung and Agnihotra homa ash for fertilizing the plants was used. All the vegetables, herbs and fruits produced excellent harvests free of all diseases. A study was conducted by the Agricultural Centre, Krakow, Poland to find out what exactly was missing in the soil of the farm. It turned out to be low lime content in the farm soil. About 1- 4.5 t ha

-1of lime was recommended for different patches of soils. Dried cow dung powder and

Agnihotra ash was also added. At present he is growing every kind of disease free vegetables and grains under the sun.

Garcia (2009) from Caracas, Venezuela reported that black Sigatoka (Mycosphaerella fijiensis) and fungal disease appeared in Fiji and has since then become a Global threat to banana plantations. It causes brown wounds on leaves and premature fruit ripening. The disease cuts fruit yield by 50-70 per cent and reduces the productive life from 30 years to as little as 2-3 years. The central idea of ‘Homa therapy’ is that you heal the atmosphere and the healed atmosphere heals you (Paranjpe, 1989). The truth of this central idea was tested in Peru. Within four months of practicing ‘Homa therapy’, Yellow Sigatoka (Mycosphaerella Musicola), Black Sigatoka, Panama disease and nematodes were eradicated.

Observations made by Rosa Cortez Morales from The Republic of Peru have been reported by Garcia (2009). A fifth generation of ‘Seda’ plantation with 90 per cent Panama disease infestation was observed by Morales for four months after application of Homa therapy. Plants were found to be very healthy and gave over 200 fruits per bunch. She further reported that Plantain ‘Isla’ with 87 per cent Black and Yellow Sigatoka, 70 per cent fungi Fusarium and 40 per cent mucus Pseudomonas solanace with 6-7 off-springs with minimum production and small bunches with productive cycle of 8 ½ months was turned in to a uniformly rejuvenated banana and plantain plantation. Bunches were much bigger and heavy with an average of 120 bananas per bunch. It had 17-20 productive off-springs with a productive cycle of only six months. These observations gave a boost to the ‘Homa therapists’ in smaller states in South America.

Johnson (2009) reported promising results in cotton from ‘Tapovan’ in Maharashtra. A fungal weed disease locally known as Lalya seems to attack only verities of Bt cotton. Lalya caused an initial reddening of leaves, then the whole plant turned red and after a few days it completely dried up and dies. Fifty per cent farms surrounding ‘Tapovan’ showed signs of Lalya wilt. Some farmers removed the cotton crop and prepared their land for the next crop which resulted in massive economic loss to the farmers who were already in serious financial trouble. At ‘Tapovan’, a non-Bt American hybrid, Ankur 651 was tried which was smaller in height than the Bt varieties but had comparable boll count with the Bt varieties. Bt plants are normally much bigger in size, but do not necessarily translate in to more bolls per plant. About 80-90 bolls per plant were obtained at ‘Tapovan’ as against 50-60 bolls per plant reported by other farmers. The beneficial effect to HOF technology was attributed to the use of Biosol bio-fertilizer. The chemical Bt cotton registered 66 per cent profit, whereas homa cotton raised at ‘Tapovan’ per acre registered 149 per cent profit.

Mutalikdesai (2009), a chemical engineer turned in to progressive farmer due to Homa organic farming (HOF) has a success story to narrate from 1989 till today. He has 45 acres of land in the Sutagatti village of Belgaum district of Karnataka where for the past 35 years chemical farming was followed by the elders in his family. In 30 acres, they could grow 2000 tons of sugarcane and from 15 acres, 400 bags of paddy. In 1974 they faced deforestation, decreased rainfall and water scarcity in summer. Higher use of chemicals resulted in degradation of soil affecting soil health and life of the diverse flora and fauna. Mismanagement of the soil resulted in erosion of top soil, lower crop response and reduced productivity against higher chemicals and energy inputs, water and labour needs. The soil

was drying and chemical farming became a painful experience by 1989, when sugarcane production reached the record low of 14 t ha

-1. Reduced usages of chemicals increased the

soil fertility and mulching created a favourable microclimate. By 1995, the whole farm was covered with abundant vermicast indicating peak activity of earthworms due to maintenance of soil moisture for longer period in summer. The sugar cane yield shot up to 1200 tons from 25 acres in 1995 from the record low yield of 350 tons from 25 acres in 1989.

In 1989, at the expense of 1000 kg per acre of chemical NPK with 900 gallons (1 gallon = 4.546 l) of water for flood irrigation using 50 HP tractors, Mutalikdesai could get 14 MT per acre yield of sugarcane variety CO-740. In 1990 he had started following HOF and started growing organic vanilla, coffee, pepper, soap nut, teak, vegetables, cereals, pulses and oil seeds in 15 acres of his farm land. Between 1990-95 with the same sugarcane variety using 240 gallons of water per minute of sprinkler irrigation and nearly half the dose of NPK, he could get a yield of 25-50 MT per acre. Mutalikdesai had used a 50 HP tractor for field operations from 1989 to 1999. In the year 1999, he completely switched over to HOF. During 1999-2009 he used sugarcane varieties, CO 89014 and CO 94012 with 240 gallons of water per minute using sprinkler irrigation. Without using any chemicals and only with the help of one pair of bullocks and 10 HP power tiller he could get 40-45 MT of sugarcane per acre. The use of electric power came down from 30 HP for 24 h to 20 HP for six hours while working with HOF technique. He was recognised as Krishi Pandit by the Government of Karnataka in the year 2006 for his achievements in agriculture through HOF technique.

Mutalikdesai further reports that he had highest vanillin content in processed vanilla beans (2.91%) in the year 2000 in India and highest vanillin content i.e. 36 per cent in CO-2 vanilla oil in 2004 as against 27-28 per cent vanillin content reported in International commercial oils. He further reports that woolly aphid attack on sugarcane was controlled in his farm by natural predators like Dipha aphidiova and Micromus igorotus. His farm has an important distinction in having maximum activity of red millipede which produces millipede compost which has not been observed in any of the organic farms in India.

Naik (2009) experimented with HOF technique on sericulture crops in his green house since 1996 and reported that the mulberry crop which suffered due to disease gradually improved. Leaf quality and size of leaf improved tremendously which reflected positively on yield per acre. He got 80 Kg per 100 disease free layings which was 30 per cent higher than the State’s average and 20 per cent higher than the productivity by any good sericulturist. He also observed that number of earthworms in his farm increased and herds of millipede were also found.

Hernandez and Macan (2009), the Directors of AGROHOMA, PIURA, PERU reported that the first HOF results made by the Governmental institutions of the Republic Peru in South America were released more than 10 years ago. It is officially documented that Sigatoka Negra (Black Sigatoka) was eradicated in areas where HOF Resonant points were established. Sigatoka Negra is a very resistant fungal disease in bananas and plantains that affects all Central and South American countries and continues its spread worldwide and now has reached India. They summarized that over the years many farmers in South America have experienced the astonishing results of Homa farming and they believe that this is the only holistic way to prosperity in agriculture and personal health which includes physical and mental health and protect, nurture and support our planet at the same time.

Heschl (2009) conducted an experiment on soybean crop in cooperation with Prestige Feed Mills, Indore, Madhya Pradesh for the entire season practicing Homa Organic farming HOF by performing Agnihotra and Om Tryambakam Homas and observed that while using agro-chemicals the soybean yield from the Prestige Farm in the year 2000 was 350 Kg per ha after adapting HOF technique, the yield in the subsequent year went up to 1800 Kg per ha. The yield in conventional agro-chemical farming was 1120 kg per ha. Other farms in the neighbourhood averaged 700 to 800 Kg per ha. Nearest best result was 1200 Kg per ha who had not performed homa. Beans from the Prestige Farm were of superior colour and roots of the plants bore twice the number of nitrogen fixing nodules when compared with the neigh boring farms. Profit in conventional agro-chemical farming was Rs.4,720 per ha (96.7%), whereas profit in HOF was Rs.10,702 per ha (232.8 %). It was concluded from the experiment that HOF in soybean had less cost of production, greater yield per hectare (usually >50 %) and superior economy.

She further reported the efficacy of Agnihotra homa ash in reducing the radioactivity in milk and fodder samples which were affected by Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986. When the Chernobyl nuclear accident took place, she was a homa volunteer and had a farm near Graz in Austria. Immediately after the accident, the Austrian Government had issued instructions that every farmer had to submit milk and fodder samples for detection of radio activity. The health inspectors were shocked to find normal radioactivity in the fodder and milk samples of her farm. She attributed this effect to daily performance of Agnihotra homa.

Agnihotra is the main focus under University PG program of Environmental Sciences at CSK Himachal Pradesh Agricultural University, Palampur. This research program was undertaken under a Govt. of India sponsored ICAR project “Niche Area of Excellence in Organic Farming in Hill Agriculture-CSKHPKV, Palampur- Himachal Pradesh”. Rameshwar et al. (2009) of the same university conducted an experiment at the College of Agriculture, Palampur on the ‘Impact of integrated organic crop management on productivity of medicinal plant based system’. The objective of the experiment was to study the effect of organic nutrients on crop productivity and soil health and effect of integrated organic management on weed dynamics, insect, pest and diseases. The indicator crops used for this experiment were Lemon grass, Wild Marigold and Aloe-Vera. The land selected for the experiment was barren and abandoned for long period and was ideal for conducting trials on organic farming. Before laying out the field experiment, the initial chemical status of soil was assessed. It was found that soil was acidic, medium in organic carbon and available nitrogen, low in phosphorus and high in potassium. Various treatments with organic manures, vermicompost, biopesticides, homa bhasm, Bacillus thurigiensis, Himbio, Biodynamic 500 and their combinations were tried. Homa bhasm was reported to be superior over organic treatments.

Ringma and Ringma (2009), the Directors of Homa Therapy Association of Australia have been developing and managing the Om Shri Dham Homa Farm in the Hunter Valley, NSW, Australia from 1994. They are working under the umbrella of Fivefold Path Mission, Dhule, Maharashtra, India. They reported about a bio-assay carried out by them to study the effect of Agnihotra homa ash on the biotic life. The effluent for the study was collected from a textile process industry. Different dilutions of effluent were prepared. Agnihotra homa ash dose was given and fish were kept under observation for 48 h. Biotic life was tested in concentrations of 15 per cent effluent with 0.5 g per l

of homa ash and 20 per cent effluent

with 2 g homa ash per liter. Biotic life was absent in 20 per cent effluent with 0.5 g per l homa ash and 15 per cent effluent with no homa ash.

A water diviner turned up to their farm and told that there were no underground streams in their farm. They, however, drilled up to 40 meters (130 feet) and found sub-artesian water which was highly alkaline (pH 9.5) and saline (1150 ppm). They saw an opportunity to see what Homa therapy could do to improve the water quality. They did Agnihotra homa size by the bore and regularly placed filtered Agnihotra homa ash water down the bore well. The State Department of Water Resources was conducting regular tests on the bores in their neighbourhood and they notified that the salinity and alkalinity dropped with each laboratory report until after about six months they had stable, potable drinking water (pH 7.2 and salinity 720 ppm) as per WHO standard. It was noticed that the standing water level of the bore had never changed since beginning at 16.5 meters throughout the periods of drought and intense rain.

Their results indicate that ‘Homa therapy’ brings balance in nature.

Selvaraj et al. (2009) of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore has been studying the effect of Agnihotra homa on vegetables, fruits and flowers at Ooty. He mixed 200 g of Agnihotra homa ash in 1 liter of cow urine, kept for fermentation for 25 days, 10 liter was diluted in water and sprayed on the crop once in 15 days. His observations are summarized below:

In Rose cultivar Passion, organic and Agnihotra homa ash treatment showed 8.5 per cent increase in flower yield, 34 per cent reduction in the incidence of powdery mildew and 14 per cent extension in shelf life of rose over organic treatment. In Carnation variety Chipro, Agnihotra homa ash treatments registered increase by 13 per cent in yield, 20 per cent reduction in the incidence leaf spot, 32 per cent decrease in the incidence of Fusarium wilt and 7.0 per cent increase in shelf life over organic treatment. In Gerbera variety Ruby Red, organic and Agnihotra homa ash treatment registered 11 per cent increase in the yield of

flowers, 44 per cent reduction in the incidence of leaf spot, 63 per cent reduction in the incidence of Fusarium wilt and 23 per cent increase in the shelf life over organic treatment. In ‘Questo’ variety of cabbage, Agnihotra homa ash treatment registered 8 per cent increase in yield and 40 per cent reduction in the incidence of leaf spot disease over organic treatment. In potato cultivar Kufri Jyoti, Agnihotra homa ash treatment registered increase by 14 per cent and reduction in the incidence of late blight by 75 per cent over organic treatment establishing thereby that Agnihotra homa treatments score over organic treatments and homa technique works better in combination with organic farming techniques.

Shendye (2009) studied the mode of energy transfer during Agnihotra using scientific energy detection techniques like Poly-contrast interference photography (PIP), Electro sound meter, Resonant frequency imaging, Gas discharge volume and Electro-interstitial scanning. He postulated that Far Infra Red (FIR) is the bio-energy produced by fire from Agnihotra and observed that Agnihotra homa generates useful energy which is transferred to all the surroundings. FIR is specifically produced by all the transition elements including copper. He further postulated that FIR is more specifically produced when the transition elements are heated to their oxides. The Agnihotra semi-pyramid absorbs energy from the sun and produces copper oxides during the performance of Agnihotra. The specific FIR is known to kill microbes and inhibit growth of cancer cells i.e. negative energy, pastes and diseases. Agnihotra semi-pyramid retains positive life-energy for several hours after Agnihotra homa is performed. Next cycle of Agnihotra after about 12 h re-charges the pot. Agnihotra homa ash also has specific positive bio-energy which works in similar way (Appendix I).

Kumari Namrata (2010) during kharif 2009 studied the biochemical efficacy of HOF in soybean crop at UAS, Dharwad. The conventional control and control without Homa were maintained almost 1 km away. All the seeds used in Homa treatments received fresh cow dung and cow urine as basal treatment. Agnihotra Homa performed at sunrise and sunset and Om Tryambakam Homa performed for 3-4 h daily throughout the experimental period yielded smoke and ash. Homa ash was used for seed treatment and for furrow application. Agnihotra Homa ash (ASH) as seed treatment with Biosol as soil application was significantly superior over control in case of DMA in stem, total biomass per plant, nodule count and nodule dry weight wherein Homa ash as furrow application and biosol as soil application increased in nodule count by 55-105 per cent over conventional control and 106-180 per cent increase over control without Homa. The status of macronutrients and micronutrients in the soil was higher in case of furrow application of Homa ashes as well as soil application of Biosol, a bio-digester in combination with both the ashes as compared to control. Soil Zn content increased by 67-84 per cent with Homa ash and soil application of Biosol treatments and soil dehydrogenase activity increased by 182-342 per cent over control and conventional practices. Total protein and oil content and specific activities of β-amylase and invertase in soy seeds on soil application of Biosol were found to be superior over control. Decrease in the incidence of rust ((16-29%) and insect attack (18-43) was observed on foliar application of Biosol which was superior over furrow application of Homa ashes and its soil application. Homa smoke, ashes and Biosol thus showed promise to produce disease free healthy crop with good returns.

3. MATERIAL AND METHODS A field experiment was conducted to study the effect of Homa organic farming (HOF) on growth, yield and quality of tomato during kharif 2010. The information in detail on the material used and experimental techniques adopted during the study period are described in this chapter.

3.1 Experimental site

The experiment was conducted at Bio-farm (C- block) of Institute of Organic Farming, Main Agriculture Research Station (MARS), University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS), Dharwad and conventional treatments were laid out in G - block of MARS, UAS, Dharwad was selected as control.

3.2 Soil characteristics

The soil of experimental site was mixed sandy loamy. The soil samples of experimental site and control were homogenous. Soil samples from the experimental area were collected before and after sowing and analysed for various chemical and biological properties.

3.3 Experimental details

The field experiment was laid out in randomised block design with 13 treatments replicated thrice.

3.3.1 Plot size

Gross plot size : 3.6 m × 4.5 m

Net plot size : 2.4 m × 3.6 m

Tomato seedlings were planted in 60 cm × 45 cm spacing.

3.3.2 Variety

Tomato Var. DMT – 2 developed at UAS Dharwad, with duration of 120 days was selected for study.

Two homa products viz smoke and ash were useful in this study. In the first

treatment, vermicompost and FYM were used as soil application without seedling treatment (T1). The treatment T1 was given to all the plots from T4 to T11 in the C- block prior to transplanting.

The second treatment was exposure of tomato crop to only homa atmosphere without seedling treatment and organic manures (T2).

In the third treatment (T3), seedlings were dipped in a mixture of fresh cow dung and cow urine. This treatment was common to all the treatments from T4 to T11.

In the fourth and fifth treatments, Non-homa ash was used. It was collected from burning of agricultural waste products and stored in separate bag and used for soil and foliar application (T4) and only foliar application (T5).

In the sixth (T6) and seventh (T7) treatments, the ash collected from daily performance of Agnihotra homa at sun rise and sun set was used. It was stored separately in earthen pots and used for soil and foliar application (T6) and foliar application alone (T7) and for the preparation of Gloria Biosol (Appendix V).

In the eighth and ninth treatments, ash collected from daily performance of Om Tryambakam homa for 3-4 h was used. It was stored separately in earthen pots and used for the soil and foliar application (T8) and foliar application alone (T9).

3.3.3 Layout of Experimental site

C - block

R I R II R III

T5 T4 T2

T3 T10 T11

T11 T6 T5

T9 T3 T10

T1 T5 T8

T8 T2 T3

T10 T7 T9

T4 T8 T7

T7 T9 T6

T6 T1 T4

T2 T11 T1

G - block

R I R II R III

T12 T13 T12

T13 T12 T13

3.4 Treatment details

Treatment

No.

Treatment details

T1 Organics equivalent to RDF without seedling treatment (organic control) in homa atmosphere

T2 No organic manures and no seedling treatment (absolute control)

T3 Seedling dipped in a mixture of fresh cow urine and fresh cow dung only

T4 Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung and soil and foliar application of Non-homa ash at 30 and 60 DAP

T5 Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung and foliar application of Non- homa ash at 30 and 60 DAP

T6 Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung and soil and foliar application of Agnihotra homa ash at 30 and 60 DAP

T7 Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung and foliar application of Agnihotra homa ash at 30 and 60 DAP

T8 Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung and soil and foliar application of Om Tryambakam homa ash at 30 and 60 DAP

T9 Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung and foliar application of Om Tryambakam homa ash at 30 and 60 DAP

T10 Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung and soil and foliar application of Gloria Biosol at 30 and 60 DAP

T11 Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung and foliar application of Gloria Biosol at 30 and 60 DAP

T12 Recommended package of practices (Non - homa and Non - organic site) in G - block of UAS, Dharwad (conventional control)

T13 Organics equivalent to RDF without seedling treatment at Non homa site in a block of UAS, Dharwad (control)

The 10th and 11th treatments were that of a bio-digester called Gloria Biosol. It was prepared and used for soil and foliar application (T10) and foliar application alone (T11).

All the treatments from T4 to T11 were imposed after transplanting the seedlings.

The observations taken will, therefore, be referred to as Days after planting (DAP) hereafter in this investigation.

It may be recalled that control treatment without homa (T12), received recommended package of practice (conventional control). The treatment T13, did not receive any treatment including Farm Yard Manure (FYM) and vermicompost. These two treatments were maintained in G - block of MARS, UAS, Dharwad at a distance of approximately 1 km away from the homa site (C - block) to avoid influence of homa on the crop.

The treatments, T12 and T13 were imposed in Plot No 174 at G - block of UAS, Dharwad where no homa was performed, whereas in C - block, regular Agnihotra homa was performed at sun rise and sun set everyday during experimental period while chanting specific mantras (Appendix-I). In addition, Om Tryambakam homa, which does not have specific timings, was performed daily during experimental period for minimum 3-4 h in C- block. The ashes from both the homas were stored separately and used for different treatments. Recommended Organic practices were followed for the production of tomato during kharif season.

For higher coverage of the effects of these homas, a technique called resonance point technique (RPT) has been introduced in the field by Fivefold Path Mission (FFPM), Dhule, Maharashtra, India. This RPT, known as ‘Homa therapy’ extends the zone of effectiveness of Agnihotra homa from a few feet to nearly 150-200 acres of diseased land (Johnson and Heschl, 2009) in a short time (Fig.1a). For this purpose, 10 new semi-pyramids were charged (Plate 1) with specific mantras and placed on the C - block of organic farm in the specific configuration by ‘Homa therapy’ volunteer who was authorized by FFPM to install it. For this purpose, two simple huts were built with inexpensive, natural material found in the field like wood, bricks, bamboo, stones etc. Nobody lived in these huts. These huts simply protected the person performing the healing fires of ‘Homa therapy’ from sun, rain and from animals like cattle, dogs, cats, rats etc.

For maintaining two plots in G - block with conventional practices (T12), and organics equivalent to RDF without seedling treatment (T13), the experimental site was ploughed once, harrowed twice and brought to fine tilth. The weeds were removed before sowing Kharif tomato seedlings. For conventional practices, the seed treatment was given by using Thiaram -75 with Carbendazin - 50 wp (@ 3 g / kg seeds) to control seed borne diseases. Before transplanting, FYM (@ 10 tons / ha) and N : P : K (@ 115 : 100: 60 kg / ha), respectively were applied at the time of sowing as basal dose. For controlling weeds, two hand weeding were carried out with a hoeing or two. For controlling the fruit borer, Sevin was sprayed (@ 2 g / l) at 30 and 60 DAP twice. The leaf spot diseases were managed by spraying Mancozeb (@ 2 g / l) and also with neem based pesticide (@ 5 ml/ l) at 30 and 60 DAP.

The Agnihotra homa requires a copper semi-pyramid of size 14.5 cm x 14.5 cm at the top, 5.25 cm x 5.25 cm at the bottom and 6.5 cm in height.

For the performance of Agnihotra homa, dried cow dung cakes, whole unpolished, uncooked organically grown rice grains and cow’s ghee were used. Two pinch-full of whole rice grains smeared in cow’s ghee were offered to the fire after chanting ‘swaha’ portion of every line of the Agnihotra mantra at sun rise and sun set (Fig.1b). The ash in the semi-pyramid was not disturbed till the performance of next Agnihotra and stored in mud pots. The semi-pyramid was neither washed nor polished during the experimental period.

The ‘Homa therapy’ technique utilises, in addition to performance of Agnihotra, another homa called Om Tryambakam homa which was performed for 3-4 h daily which did not have specific timings. This homa required addition of one small spoonful of cow’s ghee to the fire at the end of chanting ‘swaha’ of the mantra every time. This homa can be preformed for 24 h except at Agnihotra homa timings at sun set and sun rise.

Fig. 1a. Homa organic complex

Fig. 1b. Agnihotra Homa assembly Fig. 1c. Shree Yantram

The ashes from both the homas were used for different treatments. The conventional practices were followed for the production of tomato (T12) in G-block. For furrow application, 80 g of Agnihotra and Om Tryambakam homa ash each was used for a plot size of 16.2 m

2

as standardised by Kumari Namrata (2010). A Shree Yantram made of copper was buried at a depth of 3’6” per acre in the tomato field keeping its embossed face upwards before transplanting of tomato seedlings (Fig.1c).

Various Vedic terminologies used in this investigation on HOF are presented in Appendix - II.

3.5 Resonance point (Agnihotra homa hut)

In the main hut or Agnihotra homa hut (Plate 1 and Fig.2) Agnihotra fire was performed daily at sun rise and sun set as per the time table obtained for the period of this study from a special software which works on the longitude and latitude of a particular place (Appendix-III). It was constructed in the center of the 45 acre farm at C- block. The size of the hut was 3 m x 4 m and longer side aligned with east/west axis with an opening from the west. Near the east wall and parallel to it, a pit of 2’ x 2' size was dug. All this was done in presence of the ‘Homa therapy’ volunteer who came to install and activate the Resonance point. Ten copper semi-pyramids were activated (Plate 1) while chanting specific mantras of Purushsukta and Vyahruti homa and lighting the fire with the help of dried cow dung cakes and cow’s ghee. One activated semi-copper pyramid was lowered at the bottom of the pit (Plate 2). A column of mud and bricks was built on the top of it to an approximate height of 36” (18” from the ground level), filled in with dry soil, smeared with a slurry of mud and cow dung and another activated semi - pyramid was placed on top of it, directly above the buried semi- pyramid.

This way, the semi-pyramid on the resonance column was at the heart level of the person sitting on the floor in front of the column and served as a resonance semi-pyramid which was not used for any homa. Two other activated semi-pyramids were placed on the smaller brick-mud platforms on the right and left hand side in front of the main resonance column (Plate 3). The one on the left was used for the performance of daily Agnihotra and the one on the right was used for the performance of other occasional fires like Vyhruti homa. In all, four semi-pyramids were placed in the Agnihotra hut (Fig 2). This hut was the generator and conservator of subtle healing energies. Absolute silence was maintained inside the Agnihotra hut.

3.5.1 Resonance column

After utilizing four charged copper semi-pyramids in the Agnihotra hut, other charged copper semi-pyramids were installed on the boundary of the farm at a maximum distance of 350 meters exactly North, South, East and West of the central point of Resonance in the Agnihotra hut (Appendix - IV). On each point, a 4' high column of bricks, and mud was build which was at the heart level of a person standing (about 4') and an activated semi - pyramid was placed on the top of the column. All the semi pyramids kept on the columns were covered with stone slabs or tiles and sealed with mud to maintain the semi-pyramids clean and safe (Johnson and Heschl, 2009).

3.6 Om Tryambakam homa hut

A little larger than the Agnihotra hut known as ‘Healing hut’ or ‘Om Tryambakam homa hut’ (Fig. 3 and Plate 4) was constructed near the entrance of the farm for healing sick plants, animals and human beings. In this healing hut, two changed semi-pyramids were placed on the small columns, one on the left for Agnihotra homa and the other on the right for Om Tryambakam homa. Om Tryambakam homa was performed daily for 3-4 h avoiding sun rise and sun set Agnihotra timings.

Gloria Biosol, a liquid manure was prepared (Plate 5) and used for the soil and foliar application in different treatments as described by Weir, 2009 (Appendix -V).

Plate 1. Outside view of Agnihotra homa hut

Plate 2. Activated copper semi-pyramid lowered in the pit in Agnihotra homa hut

Plate 3. Inside view of Agnihotra homa hut

3.7 Cultural Operations

3.7.1 Nursery The nursery area was ploughed, harrowed and soil was brought to a fine tilth. Raised seed bed of required size was prepared and the top soil was mixed well with vermicompost and Agnihotra ash. Later tomato seeds (Var. DMT-2) were sown in the bed and watered regularly.

3.7.2 Preparation of main field The experimental field was ploughed and harrowed twice to bring the soil to a

fine tilth. According to layout plan, the field was divided in to different plots.

3.7.3 Seed treatment and sowing Tomato seeds were treated with vermiwash for 2 min and dried in shade. Pinch of Agnihotra ash was spread on the bed after sowing.

3.7.4 Transplanting of seedlings

The roots of tomato seedlings were dipped in a mixture of fresh cow dung and cow urine (T3) before imposing homa ash and Biosol treatments, which was a common practice for the treatments from T4 to T11. Transplanting was done using 30 days old seedlings. All the treatments were imposed after transplanting the seedlings which will be hereafter referred to as Days after planting (DAP).

3.7.5 Irrigation The plots were irrigated uniformly depending upon the soil and climatic conditions so as to maintain the adequate moisture in open conditions.

3.7.6 Weeding and plant protection measures Weeding was carried out from time to time to keep the plots free from weeds. Neem seed kernel extract, neem oil and botanicals were sprayed to manage the pest and diseases in Homa organic C - block and conventional integrated pest and disease management in Non-homa G - block.

3.7.7 Harvesting The fully ripened mature red tomato fruits were harvested and stored separately as

per the treatments in polythene bags for biochemical estimation and for recording the fruit yield.

3.8 Collection of Experimental Data 3.8.1 Growth parameters For analyzing the growth parameters of the crop, five plants were selected randomly from the net plot area of each treatment and tagged to record observation. 3.8.1.1 Plant height The plant height was measured from ground level to the tip of the main shoot. The mean of five plants of each net plot was recorded as plant height in centimetres. 3.8.1.2 Root length The root length was measured from bottom end of the shoot to the end of the root. The mean root length of five plants of each net plot was recorded as root length in centimetres. 3.8.1.3 Total dry weight Two plants from the net plot of each treatment were harvested and kept in brown paper bags having holes to enable air drying, followed by oven drying at 70ºC to achieve constant weight. The plant dry weight was recorded and expressed as total dry matter per plant. 3.8.1.4 Number of leaves Number of leaves per plant from the net plot was counted and average was recorded.

3.9 Yield and yield attributing characters 3.9.1 Number of fruits per plant

The matured red fruits in each plant were collected as first, second and third picking from five plants of each net plot. Mean of five plants represented the number of fruits per plant.

Fig.2. Layout of Agnihotra homa hut and inside view of Agnihotra homa hut

Fig.3. Layout of Om Tryambakam Homa hut

Fig.4. Layout of Resonance Point on Homa farm

Plate 4. Outside view of Om Tryambakam homa hut

Plate 5. Front view of Biosol drum

3.9.2 Fruit weight The matured fruits from net plot were harvested, their weight was recorded per treatment and expressed in grammes per plot and was converted to fruit yield per ha.

3.10 Quality Parameters

3.10.1 Lycopene content

Healthy tomato fruits were pulped well to a smooth consistency in a waring blender. Ten grammes of pulp was extracted repeatedly with acetone using pestle and mortar until the residue became colourless. The acetone extracts were pooled and transferred to a separating funnel containing about 20 ml of petroleum ether and mixed gently. About 20 ml of sodium sulphate solution (5%) was added and mixed gently. To make up the losses due to evaporation, 20 ml of petroleum ether was added extra to the separating funnel. Most of the colour was noticed in the upper petroleum ether layer. The two phases were separated and the lower aqueous phase was re-extracted with additional 20 ml petroleum ether until the aqueous phase became colourless. The petroleum ether extracts were pooled and washed once with a little distilled water. The washed petroleum ether extract containing carotenoids was transferred to a brown bottle containing about 10 g anhydrous sodium sulphate. It was kept aside for 30 min or longer. The petroleum ether extract was decanted in to a 100 ml volumetric flask through cotton wool. The sodium sulphate slurry was washed with petroleum ether until it became colourless and the washings were transferred to the volumetric flask containing ether extract, the volume of which was made up to 100 ml with petroleum ether and the absorbance was measured in a spectrophotometer at 503 nm using petroleum ether as blank.

The lycopene content of the juice was calculated (Ranganna, 1976) and expressed in mg per 100 g of sample.

3.10.2 Ascorbic acid content

Ten grammes of pulp of the tomato fruits was extracted repeatedly with oxalic acid (4%) and made up to 50 ml. Five ml of extract was titrated against the 2, 6 - dichlorophenol indophenol dye from the burette to a pink end point which persisted for a few seconds. To five ml of working standard (100 µg /ml) in a 50 ml conical flask, 5 ml of oxalic acid (4%) was added, mixed well and titrated against the dye. A 5 ml of oxalic acid blank was also treated similarly. The amount of dye consumed was equivalent to the amount of ascorbic acid present and was expressed in mg per 100 g of fresh sample (Anon., 1975).

3.10.3 Estimation of total sugars

Total sugars were estimated in alcohol free extract of the tomato pulp using Nelson-Somogyi’s method (Sadasivam and Manikam, 1992).

After hydrolysing 1 ml of the alcohol free extract with 1ml of 1N HCl at 50-60º C, it

was cooled and neutralised with 1N NaOH followed by 0.1 N HCl using phenolphthalein as an indicator. The neutralised extract was made up to 5 ml with distilled water.

To 1 ml of neutralised extract, 1 ml of alkaline copper reagent was added. It was mixed well and kept in a boiling water bath for 20 min. After cooling, 1ml of arsenomolybdate reagent was added, mixed well with immediate shaking and the final volume was made up to 15 ml. Absorbance of the blue coloured complex was measured at 510 nm in a spectrophotometer using D-glucose as standard against a reagent blank.

Reducing sugars were also estimated directly from the alcohol-free extract which was not subjected to acid hydrolysis using Nelson-Somogyi’s method as explained above.

3.10.4 Total free phenols

Total free phenol content of tomato fruits was determined by the method described by Singleton et al. (1999).

To 1 ml of alcoholic extract, 1 ml of Folin - Ciocalteau reagent (FCR) was added. After through mixing, 2 ml of sodium carbonate solution (2 % Na2CO3 in 0.1 N NaOH) was added and again mixed well and the samples were placed in a boiling water bath after mixing for 1min and cooled. The final volume was made up to 10 ml and the absorbance was measured at 650 nm in a spectrophotometer and the concentration of total free phenols was determined using standard catechol.

3.10.5 Total soluble solids (TSS)

A drop of juice extracted from tomato fruits was used to determine TSS using a hand refractometer. Observations were expressed in

o brix.

3.10.6 Post harvest shelf life of Tomato

Shelf life of tomato fruits was calculated on the basis of physiological loss of weight on alternate days when kept in ambient condition.

3.11 Micro flora (bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes)

Collection of soil sample

The soil samples were collected from the field using standard method described by Jackson (1973). The soil samples were brought in polythene bags stored in ice buckets and stored in a cool place to maintain their physicochemical properties for future use.

Isolation of bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes present in the soil was carried out by 10- fold serial dilution pour plate method. Ten grammes of soil was suspended in 90 ml of sterile water and shaken on a mechanical shaker for 15 minutes. Further 10-fold dilution series was prepared by transferring 10 ml of aliquot of soil suspension culture each time to 90 ml sterile water blanks till 10

5 dilutions was obtained. The content of flask was shaken

between each transfer to ensure uniform suspension. One ml aliquot from desired soil dilution (10

5 for bacteria) was transferred to sterile Petri plate and Nutrient agar medium was poured.

In case of fungi and actinomycetes, one ml aliquot from desired soil dilution (103) was

transferred to separate sterile Petri plates. Kuister’s agar medium for fungi and Potato-Dextrose agar medium for actinomycetes (Appendix-VI) was poured in to the Petri plates and incubated for three days. The isolated colonies of bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes were counted and recorded.

3.12 Enzyme activity

The soil samples were collected by completely uprooting the plants from each replication at flowering and crop harvest stage and used for determination of enzyme activities.

3.12.1 Activity of Soil dehydrogenase

Collection of soil sample

The rhizosphere soil adhering to the roots of tomato plant was collected and brought to the laboratory in polythene bags using ice bucket and analyzed immediately.

Dehydrogenase activity in the soil sample was determined following the procedure described by Casida et al. (1964). Five grammes of soil and 0.2 g of CaCO3 were mixed and dispersed in test tubes. To each tube, one ml of 1 per cent aqueous solution of 2, 3, 5-triphenyl tetrazolium chloride (TTC) was added followed by distilled water, just sufficient to leave a thin film of water above the sample. The tubes were stopper with rubber cork and incubated at 30ºC for 24 h. At the end of the incubation period, the contents of the tubes were rinsed with methanol and filtered in to a small beaker through Whatman No. 42 filter paper using methanol for rinsing. Repeated rinsing of sample with methanol was continued till the filtrate was free of red colour. The volume of the filtrate was made up to 50 ml with methanol in a volumetric flask. The intensity of red colour was measured at 485 nm against methanol blank in a spectrophotometer. The concentration of formazen formed in the soil sample was determined using graded concentration of formazen. The results were expressed as µg of triphenyl formazen formed per gramme of soil sample in 24 h.

3.12.2 Activity of soil Alkaline Phosphatase

The soil alkaline phosphatase activity was determined by estimating concentration of p-nitrophenol as hydrolyzed product of the substrate p-nitrophenyl phosphate (PNP). One gramme of soil sample was used to determine the activity of alkaline phosphatase. The enzyme activity was expressed as µg of PNP hydrolyzed per gramme of soil per hour at 37 ± 8

º C (Evazi and Tabatabai, 1979). A standard graph of different concentrations of p-

nitrophenol solution was prepared and the intensity of colour was measured in a spectrophotometer at 420 nm against a blank.

3.13 Soil analysis

3.13.1 Available N, P, K, and Micronutrients

Collection and preparation of the soil sample

The soil samples were collected from the field and brought to the laboratory in a polythene bags. The soil samples were dried under shade, pounded with wooden pestle and mortar and passed through 2 mm sieve for the analysis of available N, P, and K and for organic carbon, Soil samples were again pounded in an agate mortar and passed through 0.5 mm sieve and preserved in polythene bags for further analysis.

3.13.1.1 Available nitrogen

The available soil nitrogen was estimated by micro-Kjeldahl method (Black, 1965). Soil samples were digested in 3 ml of conc. H2SO4 with a pinch of digestion mixture comprising salicylic acid, K2SO4 and Na2SO3. The digested samples were distilled with excess of 40 per cent sodium hydroxide and ammonia released was trapped in boric acid (2 %). Ammonium borate thus formed was titrated against 0.05 N HCl and the crude protein content was calculated.

3.13.1.2 Available phosphorous

Available soil phosphorous in the soil samples was extracted by Ascorbic acid method (Jackson, 1973). The phosphorous content in the extract was determined colourometrically and the intensity of the blue coloured complex was measured at 660 nm in a spectrophotometer.

3.13.1.3 Available potassium

Available soil potassium was determined by extracting the sample with neutral ammonium acetate solution and estimated by using flame photometer as outlined by Jackson (1973).

3.13.2 Available Micronutrients

Micronutrients like Zn, Fe, Cu and Mn in soil were extracted in 0.5 N DTPA (Diethyl triamine penta acetic acid), 0.01 CaCl2 and 0.01 M Triethanolamine buffer at pH 7.3 and determined by using Atomic absorption spectrophotometer as described by Lindsey and Norvell (1978).

3.14 Disease incidence and insect attack

3.14.1 Leaf spot incidence

Severity of rust caused by Alternaria alternate was recorded between 60-90 DAP on the basis of per cent leaf area infected using a scale given by Mayee and Datar (1986).

Symptoms Response Grade

No symptom Immune 1

1-10% leaf area covered with rust pustules

Highly resistant 3

11-25% leaf area covered with rust pustules

Resistant 5

26-50% leaf area covered with rust pustules

Susceptible 7

> 50% leaf area covered with rust pustules

Highly susceptible 9

3.14.2 Fruit borer

At the time of harvest total number of fruits were selected from each treatment and observed for damage by fruit borer and expressed as per cent fruit damage.

3.15 Statistical analysis

The data of the experiment were analyzed statistically following the procedure described by Gomez and Gomez (1984). The level of significance used in ‘F’ and ‘t’ test was p = 0.05. The critical difference was calculated wherever the ‘F’ value was found to be significant.

4. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTSThe results of the investigation conducted during Kharif 2010 to study effect of Homa

organic farming (HOF) technique on growth, yield and quality of tomato (Var. DMT - 2) cropare presented in this chapter.

4.1 Agronomical observations4.1.1 Plant height

The data on plant height (cm), number of leaves and number of branches per plantare presented in Table 1. The general view of the tomato field is presented in Plate 6. It isevident from the data that at both 30 and 60 DAP, the plant height did not differ significantlywith recommended dose of organics equivalent to RDF without seedling treatment i.e. organiccontrol, T1 (42.13 and 71.73) when compared with treatment, T12 (42.73) i.e. recommendedpackage of practices as conventional control.

The treatment T2 (35.30) referred to as absolute control, did not differ significantlyfrom treatment T13 (40.80) in which organics equivalent to RDF without seedling treatmentwere used at both 30 and 60 DAP.

The data reveal that the treatment T3 in which seedlings were dipped in a mixture offresh cow dung and cow urine (38.33) did not differ from the organic control treatment T1(42.13).

The soil and foliar application of Non-homa ash, T4, (41.70 and 70.63) and foliarapplication of Non-homa ash, T5 (40.87 and 70.70) did not differ significantly from T3 (38.33and 69.20) both at 30 and 60 DAP, respectively.

The soil and foliar application of Agnihotra homa ash treatment, T6 (47.70 and 76.00)and only foliar application of Agnihotra homa ash treatment T7 (44.10 and 74.88) did not differsignificantly from each other but were significantly superior over T3 (38.33 and 69.20) at both30 and 60 DAP, respectively.

The soil and foliar application of Om Tryambakam homa ash, T8 (46.17 and 78.23)and only foliar application of Om Tryambakam homa ash, T9 (42.40 and 74.46) did not differsignificantly from T3 both at 30 and 60 DAP, respectively.

At 30 DAP, the soil and foliar application of Gloria Biosol, T10 (54.14 and 78.23) andonly foliar application of Gloria Biosol, T11 (48.18 and 75.94) recorded significantly higherplant height as compared to T3. However, T10 did not differ significantly from T11 at 60 DAP.

Among the homa ash and Gloria Biosol treatments (soil and foliar), the treatments T6(Agnihotra homa ash), T8 (Om Tryambakam homa ash) and T10 (Gloria Biosol) and also foliarapplication of Gloria Biosol (T11) differed significantly from T1 (organic control) at 30 DAP. At60 DAP only soil and foliar application of Gloria Biosol T10 (78.23) differed significantly from T1(71.73).

Among all the homa treatments, Gloria Biosol (T10) treatment registered highestplant height.

4.1.2 Number of branchesIt is evident from Table 1 that at both 30 and 60 DAP, the number of branches per

plant did not differ significantly when treatment, T1 (3.33 and 8.00) when compared withconventional control, T12 (2.93 and 8.08).

The treatment T2 (2.88 and 5.23) did not differ significantly from the treatment T13(3.27 and 8.13) at 30 DAP and but at 60 DAP it differed significantly, respectively.

The treatment T3 (3.12 and 6.40) did not differ from the organic control treatment T1(3.33 and 8.00) both at 30 and 60 DAP, respectively.

The Non-homa ash treatments, T4 (3.27 and 7.40) and T5 (3.10 and 6.80) did notdiffer significantly from T3 at both 30 and 60 DAP, respectively.

The Agnihotra homa ash treatments T6 (3.36 and 8.73) and T7 (3.27 and 8.07)differed significantly from T3 (3.33 and 8.00) at both 30 and 60 DAP, respectively.

The Om Tryambakam homa ash treatments T8 (3.33) and T9 (3.40) did not differsignificantly from T3 (3.12) at 30 DAP, whereas at 60 DAP, T8 (7.93) significantly differed fromT3 but T9 (6.87) did not significantly differ from T3 (6.40).

At 30 DAP, the soil and foliar application of Gloria Biosol, T10 (3.80) and only foliarapplication of Gloria Biosol, T11 (3.67) did not differ significantly from T3 (3.12). However, T10(9.33) and T11 (7.86) differed significantly from T3 (6.40) at 60 DAP and also T10 and T11differed among themselves.

Among the homa ash and Gloria Biosol treatments (soil and foliar), T10 (3.80 and9.33) differed significantly from T1 (3.33 and 8.00) both at 30 and 60 DAP.

4.1.3 Number of leavesIt is evident from Table 1 that at 30 DAP the number of leaves per plant differed

significantly from Homa organic control treatment, T1 (33.33) when compared withconventional control treatment, T12 (44.47) but did not differ at 60 DAP.

The treatment T2 (27.80 and 32.45 i.e. absolute control differed significantly from T13(43.33 and 52.33) both at 30 and 60 DAP, respectively.

The treatment T3 (31.93) did not differ from the organic control treatment T1 (33.33) at30 DAP but differed significantly at 60 DAP.

The Non-homa ash treatments T4 (34.28) and T5 (33.06) did not differ significantlyfrom T3 at 30 and 60 DAP. The treatment T4 (47.20) differed from T5 (41.53) but did not differsignificantly from T3 (41.00).

The Agnihotra homa ash treatments T6 (45.13 and 52.55) and T7 (41.20 and 47.33)differed significantly from T3 (31.93 and 41.00) both at 30 and 60 DAP, respectively.

The Om Tryambakam homa ash treatments, T8 (39.00) and T9 (37.20) did not differsignificantly from T3 at 30 DAP, whereas T8 and T9 differed significantly from T3 at 60 DAP.

The Gloria Biosol treatments, T10 (49.40 and 65.20) and T11 (43.33 and 52.73) differedsignificantly from T3 (31.93 and 41.00) both at 30 and 60 DAP, respectively and also amongthemselves.

Among the homa ash and Gloria Biosol treatments (soil and foliar), the treatments T6(Agnihotra homa ash) and T10 (Gloria Biosol) differed significantly from T1 (organic control) at30 DAP, whereas at 60 DAP only foliar application of Gloria Biosol (T11) differed significantlyfrom T1.

Among all the homa treatments Gloria Biosol treatment (T10) was the superiortreatment as compared to other homa treatments.

4.1.4 Root lengthThe data on root length (cm) are presented in Table 2. It is evident from the table that

at crop harvest, the root length did not differ significantly from organic control treatmentT1(25.34) when compared with recommended package of practices, T12 (24.30).

The treatment T2 (21.42) referred to as absolute control did not differ significantlyfrom treatment T13 (24.43). The treatment T3 (23.67) did not differ from the organic controltreatment, T1 (25.34).

The Non-homa ash treatments T4 (25.23) and T5 (23.78) did not differ significantlyfrom T3 (23.67) at the crop harvest. Similarly, the Agnihotra homa ash treatments, T6 (26.71)and T7 (24.03) did not differ significantly from T3 (23.67) at the crop harvest and also amongthemselves.

The Om Tryambakam homa ash treatments, T8 (25.60) and T9 (24.53) did not differsignificantly from T3 at the crop harvest stage.

Table 1. Plant height, number of branches and number of leave in Tomato (Var. DMT-2) as influenced by different treatments

Plant height (cm) Number ofbranches / Plant

Number of leaves/ PlantTreatment details

30 DAP 60 DAP 30 DAP 60 DAP 30 DAP 60 DAPT1 -Recommended dose of organics equivalent to RDF without seedling treatment (Organic control)

in homa atmosphere 42.13 71.73 3.33 8.00 33.33 54.47

T2 - No organic manures and no seedling treatment (Absolute control) 35.30 65.70 2.88 5.23 27.80 32.45T3 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung 38.33 69.20 3.12 6.40 31.93 41.00T4 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with soil and foliar application of Non-homa

ash at 30 and 60 DAP 41.70 70.63 3.27 7.40 34.28 47.20

T5 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with foliar application of Non- homa ash at 30 and 60 DAP 40.87 70.70 3.10 6.80 33.06 41.53

T6 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with soil and foliar application of Agnihotrahoma ash at 30 and 60 DAP 47.70 76.00 3.36 8.73 45.13 52.55

T7 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with foliar application of Agnihotra homa ashat 30 and 60 DAP 44.10 74.88 3.27 8.07 41.20 47.33

T8 -Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with soil and foliar application of OmTryambakam homa ash at 30 and 60 DAP 46.17 75.00 3.33 7.93 39.00 48.60

T9 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with foliar application of Om Tryambakamhoma ash at 30 and 60 DAP 42.40 74.46 3.40 6.87 37.20 44.00

T10 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with soil and foliar application of GloriaBiosol at 30 and 60 DAP 51.14 78.23 3.80 9.33 49.40 65.20

T11 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with foliar application of Gloria Biosol at 30 and 60 DAP 48.18 75.94 3.67 7.86 43.33 52.73

T12 - Recommended package of practices ( Non - homa and Non – organic site) in G - block ofUAS, Dharwad (Conventional control) 42.73 71.82 2.93 8.08 44.47 55.40

T13 - Organics equivalent to RDF without seedling treatment at Non homa site in a block of UAS,Dharwad (Control) 40.80 71.13 3.27 8.13 43.33 52.33

SEm±CD at 5%

1.404.10

3.058.90

0.180.54

0.451.30

2.286.66

2.647.70

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Plan

t hei

ght (

cm)

T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 T7 T8 T9 T10 T11 T12 T13Treatments

30 DAT 60 DAT

Fig. 5a: Plant height in Tomato (Var. DMT-2) as influenced by different treatments

Fig. 5a: Plant height in Tomato (Var. DMT-2) as influenced by different treatments

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

No.

of b

ranc

hes/

plan

t and

No.

of o

f lea

ves/

plan

t

T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 T7 T8 T9 T10 T11 T12 T13Treatments

30 DAT 60 DAT 30 DAT 60 DAT

Fig. 5b: Number of branches and number of leaves in Tomato (Var. DMT-2) as influenced by different treatments

Fig. 5b: Number of branches and number of leaves in Tomato (Var. DMT-2) as influenced by different treatments

Table 2. Root length and dry matter in Tomato (Var.DMT-2) as influenced by different treatments

Treatment details Root length(cm)

Dry matter(g / plant)

T1 - Recommended dose of organics equivalent to RDF without seedling treatment (Organic control) in homa atmosphere 25.34 13.56T2 - No organic manures and no seedling treatment (Absolute control) 21.42 6.59T3 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung 23.67 7.57T4 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with soil and foliar application of Non-homa ash at 30 and 60 DAP 25.23 9.04

T5 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with foliar application of Non- homa ash at 30 and 60 DAP 23.78 8.03

T6 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with soil and foliar application of Agnihotra homa ash at 30 and 60 DAP 26.71 11.89

T7 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with foliar application of Agnihotra homa ash at 30 and 60 DAP 24.03 10.78

T8 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with soil and foliar application of Om Tryambakam homa ash at 30 and 60DAP 25.60 10.73

T9 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with foliar application of Om Tryambakam homa ash at 30 and 60DAP 24.53 9.29

T10 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with soil and foliar application of Gloria Biosol at 30 and 60 DAP 32.35 12.31

T11 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with foliar application of Gloria Biosol at 30 and 60 DAP 28.77 11.56

T12 - Recommended package of practices ( Non - homa and Non – organic site) in G - block of UAS, Dharwad (Conventionalcontrol) 24.30 11.89

T13 - Organics equivalent to RDF without seedling treatment at Non homa site in a block of UAS, Dharwad (Control) 24.43 9.84SEm±CD at 5%

1.694.94

0.521.53

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Roo

t len

gth

and

dry

mat

ter

T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 T7 T8 T9 T10 T11 T12 T13Treatments

Root length (cm) Dry matter (g / plant)

Fig. 6: Root length and dry matter in Tomato (Var. DMT-2) as influenced by different treatments

Fig. 6: Root length and dry matter in Tomato (Var. DMT-2) as influenced by different treatments

The Gloria Biosol treatments T10 (32.35) and T11 (28.77) differed significantly from T3after the crop harvest, whereas only soil and foliar application of Gloria Biosol (T10)significantly differed from T1 (organic control).

4.1.5 Dry matterIt is evident from Table 2 that at crop harvest, the dry matter (g/plant) did not differ

significantly from organic control, T1 (13.56) when compared with recommended package ofpractices, T12 (11.89).

The treatment T2 (6.59) differed significantly from T13 (9.84). The treatment, T3 (7.57)differed significantly from the organic control treatment T1 (13.56).

The Non-homa ash treatments T4, (9.04) differed significantly from T3 (7.57) and T5(8.03) but did not differ significantly from T3 after the crop harvest.

The Agnihotra homa ash treatments, T6 (11.89) and T7 (10.78) differed significantlyfrom T3 after the crop harvest but were on par with each other.

The Om Tryambakam homa ash treatments, T8 (10.73) and T9 (9.29) differedsignificantly from T3 at the crop harvest but were on par with each other.

At crop harvest, the Gloria Biosol treatments T10 (12.31) and T11 (11.56) differedsignificantly from T3 (7.57).

4.2 Yield and yield parameter4.2.1 Number of fruits per plant

The data on number of fruits per plant are presented in Table 3. It is evident from thetable that number of fruits per plant differed significantly from organic control, T1 (25.33)compared with recommended package of practices, T12 (21.60).

The treatment T2, (13.00) differed significantly from treatment T13 (21.28). Thetreatment T3 (15.66) differed from the organic control treatment T1 (25.33).

The Non-homa ash treatments, T4 (22.64) differed significantly from T3 (15.66) but T5(14.38) did not differ significantly from T3 at the crop harvest stage.

The Agnihotra homa ash treatments, T6 (24.56) and T7 (20.00) did not differsignificantly from T3 (15.66) at the crop harvest.

The Om Tryambakam homa ash treatments T8 (23.52) and T9 (19.33) differedsignificantly from T3 at the crop harvest stage and also differed significantly amongthemselves.

At crop harvest, Gloria Biosol treatments, T10 (28.35) and T11 (19.28) differedsignificantly from T3 and also differed significantly among themselves.

The Gloria Biosol treatments (T10) significantly differed from T1 (organic control). Thehealthy fruits which received Gloria Biosol treatment are shown in Plate 7.

4.2.2 Yield per plantIt is evident from Table 3 that at crop harvest stage, the yield per plant (kg) did not

differ significantly from organic control, T1 (0.70) when compared with recommended packageof practices T12 (0.69).

The treatment T2 (0.26) referred to as absolute control differed significantly from T13(0.69). The treatment T3 (0.52) differed significantly from the organic control treatment T1(0.70). The Non-homa ash treatments, T4 (0.68) and T5 (0.40) differed significantly from T3(0.52) at the crop harvest stage.

The Agnihotra homa ash treatments, T6 (0.84) and T7 (0.73) differed significantly fromT3 at the crop harvest stage.

The Om Tryambakam homa ash treatments, T8 (0.83) and T9 (0.72) differedsignificantly from T3 at the crop harvest stage and also among themselves.

At the crop harvest stage, Gloria Biosol treatments T10 (0.99) and T11 (0.70) differedsignificantly as compared to T3 (0.52) and also among themselves.

Among the homa ash and Gloria Biosol treatments (soil and foliar), the treatments T6(0.84), T8 (0.83) and T10 (0.99) differed significantly from T1 (0.70) at the crop harvest stage.

4.2.4 Yield per hectareIt is evident from Table 3 that the yield (t/ha)) did not differ significantly when

treatment T1 (25.90) was compared with recommended package of practices, T12 (25.61).

The treatment T2 (9.70) referred to as absolute control differed significantly from T13(25.67) and the treatment T3 (19.25) differed significantly from the organic control treatment,T1 (25.90)

The Non-homa ash treatments, T4 (25.18) and T5 (20.34) differed significantly from T3(19.25) at the crop harvest stage but did not differ among themselves.

The Agnihotra homa ash treatments, T6 (30.98) and T7 (24.33) differed significantlyfrom T3 at the crop harvest and also differed among themselves.

The Om Tryambakam homa ash treatments, T8 (30.80) and T9 (24.08) differedsignificantly from T3 and also differed among themselves at the crop harvest stage.

At crop harvest stage, Gloria Biosol treatments, T10 (36.66) and T11 (25.92) differedsignificantly as compared to T3 (19.25) and also differed among themselves.

Among the homa ash and Gloria Biosol treatments (soil and foliar), the treatments T6(30.98), T8 (30.80) and T10 (36.66) differed significantly from T1 (25.90) at the crop harvest.

4.3 Soil analysis4.3.1 Macro nutrients4.3.1.1 Available N

The data on available N, P and K are presented in Table 4. It is evident from the tablethat at both flowering and crop harvest stages available nitrogen (kg/ha)in the soil did notdiffer significantly (organic control) when T1 (107.35 and 147.00) was compared withconventional control, T12 (116.67 and 149.30), respectively.

The treatment T2 (79.30 and 93.30) referred to as absolute control did not differsignificantly from T13 (107.26 and 130.60) both at flowering and at the crop harvest stage. Thetreatment T3 (86.31 and 114.33) differed significantly from treatment T1 (107.35 and 147.00),respectively at both the stages studied.

The Non-homa ash treatments, T4 (107.00) differed significantly from T3 (86.31) butT5 (93.35) did not differ significantly from T3 (86.31) at flowering stage. However, at cropharvest stage, T4 and T5 differed significantly from T3 and also among themselves at both thestages.

The Agnihotra homa ash treatments, T6 (165.67 and 236.30) and T7 (156.33 and170.30) differed significantly from T3 (86.31 andb114.33) both at flowering and at crop harveststage but among themselves only at crop harvest stage.

The Om Tryambakam homa ash treatments, T8 (128.21 and 189.00) and T9 (114.32and 156.30) differed significantly from T3 (86.31 and 114.33) both at flowering and after cropharvest stage but among themselves only at crop harvest stage and also among themselves.

At flowering and crop harvest stage, Gloria Biosol treatments T10 (221.68 and 256.60)and T11 (182.00 and 189.00) differed significantly as compared to T3 and also amongthemselves.

Among the homa ash and Gloria Biosol treatments (soil and foliar), the treatments T6(165.67 and 236.30), T8 (128.21 and 189.00) and T10 (221 and 256.60) differed significantlyfrom T1 (107.35 and 147.00) at both flowering and crop harvest stages.

Plate 6. General view of tomato field at C block

Plate 7. Healthy tomato fruits from Biosol treatment (T10)

Table 3. Yield parameters of tomato (Var. DMT 2) as influenced by different treatments

Treatment details Number offruits / plant

Yield / plant(kg)

Yield / hectare(t)

T1 - Recommended dose of organics equivalent to RDF without seedling treatment (Organic control) inhoma atmosphere

25.33 0.70 25.9

T2 - No organic manures and no seedling treatment (Absolute control) 13.00 0.26 9.70T3 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung 15.66 0.52 19.25T4 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with soil and foliar application of Non-homa ash

at 30 and 60 DAP22.64 0.68 25.18

T5 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with foliar application of Non- homa ash at 30 and 60 DAP

14.38 0.40 20.34

T6 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with soil and foliar application of Agnihotrahoma ash at 30 and 60 DAP

24.56 0.84 30.98

T7 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with foliar application of Agnihotra homa ash at30 and 60 DAP

20.00 0.73 24.33

T8 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with soil and foliar application of OmTryambakam homa ash at 30 and 60 DAP

23.62 0.83 30.80

T9 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with foliar application of Om Tryambakam homaash at 30 and 60 DAP

19.33 0.72 24.08

T10 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with soil and foliar application of Gloria Biosolat 30 and 60 DAP

28.35 0.99 36.66

T11 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with foliar application of Gloria Biosol at 30 and60 DAP

19.26 0.70 25.92

T12 - Recommended package of practices ( Non - homa and Non – organic site) in G - block of UAS,Dharwad (Conventional control)

21.60 0.69 25.61

T13 - Organics equivalent to RDF without seedling treatment at Non homa site in a block of UAS,Dharwad (Control)

21.28 0.693 25.67

SEm±CD at 5%

1.043.03

0.030.06

1.022.98

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 T7 T8 T9 T10 T11 T12 T13

Treatments

No.

of f

ruits

/pla

nt a

nd y

ield

/ha

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

1.2

Yiel

d/pl

ant a

nd y

ield

/plo

t

Number of fruits / plant Yield/hectare (t) Yield / plant (kg) Yield / plot (q)

Fig. 7: Yield parameters of tomato (Var. DMT 2) as influenced by different treatments

Fig. 7: Yield parameters of tomato (Var. DMT 2) as influenced by different treatments

4.3.1.2 Available P

It is evident from Table 4 that the soil available P (kg/ha) both at flowering and thecrop harvest did not differ significantly when T1 (15.36) was compared with recommendedpackage of practices, T12 (16.64).

The treatment T2 (12.02) referred to as absolute control differed significantly from T13(14.00). The treatment T3 (13.30 and 15.28) differed from the organic control, treatment T1(15.36 and 24.66) both at flowering and crop harvest stages.

The Non-homa ash treatments, T4 (13.69) and T5 (13.00) did not differ significantlyfrom T3 (13.30) at flowering stage but differed at crop harvest stage only T5 (16.66). At onlycrop harvest stage, T4 and T5 differed significantly among themselves.

The Agnihotra homa ash treatments, T6 (24.60 and 34.58) and T7 (17.93 and 26.69)differed significantly from T3 (13.30 and 15.28) both at flowering and crop harvest stages andalso among themselves.

The Om Tryambakam homa ash treatments T8 (22.30 and 31.32) and T9 (14.68 and22.65) differed significantly from T3 both at flowering and crop harvest stages and also amongthemselves.

At flowering and crop harvest stage, the Gloria Biosol treatments, T10 (17.36 and27.26) and T11 (15.33 and 21.67) differed significantly from T3 and differed among themselvessignificantly at both the stages.

Among the homa ash and Gloria Biosol treatments (soil and foliar), the treatments T6(24.60 and 34.58), T8 (22.30 and 31.32) and T10 (17.36 and 27.26) differed significantly fromT1 (15.36 and 24.66) at flowering and crop harvest stages, whereas only foliar application ofAgnihotra homa ash T7 (17.93 and 26.69) and Gloria Biosol T11 (15.33 and 21.67) significantlydiffered from T1.

4.3.1.3 Available K

It is evident from the Table 4 that available soil potassium content (kg/ha) both atflowering and crop harvest stages did not differ significantly when T1 (252.00 and 288.00) wascompared with T12 (260.00 and 292.00).

The treatment T2 (160.00) referred to as absolute control differed significantly fromT13 (252.00) at flowering and crop harvest stages. The treatment T3 differed significantly fromthe organic control treatment T1.

The Non-homa ash treatments, T4 (220.00) differed significantly from T3 (188.00) butT5 (196.00) did not differ significantly from T3 at flowering stage. At crop harvest stage,however, treatments T4 and T5 differed significantly from T3 among themselves but T4 and T5differed significantly at crop harvest stage only.

The Agnihotra homa ash treatments, T6 (284.00 and 336.00) and T7 (244.00 and304.00) differed significantly from T3 (188.00 and 196.00) and also among themselves both atflowering and at crop harvest stage.

The Om Tryambakam homa ash treatments, T8 (276.00 and 314.00) and T9 (240.00and 284.00) differed significantly from T3 and also among themselves both at flowering and atcrop harvest stage.

At flowering and crop harvest stage, Gloria Biosol treatments T10 (312.00 and 380.00)and T11 (272.00 and 296.00) differed significantly from T3.

Among the homa ash and Gloria Biosol treatments (soil and foliar), the treatments T6(284.00 and 336.00), T8 (276.00 and 314.00) and T10 (312.00 and 380.00) differed significantlyfrom T1 (252.00 and 288.00) at flowering and crop harvest stages, whereas only foliarapplication of Agnihotra homa ash treatment (T7) and Gloria Biosol (T11) significantly differedfrom T1.

Table 4. Soil available nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium at flowering stage and crop harvest Tomato (Var.DMT-2) as influenced by differenttreatments

Flowering stage Crop harvest stageTreatment details Available

NAvailable

PAvailable

KAvailable

NAvailable

PAvailable

K(Kg/ha) (Kg/ha)

T1 - Recommended dose of organics equivalent to RDF without seedling treatment(Organic control) in homa atmosphere 107.35 15.36 252 147.0 24.66 288

T2 - No organic manures and no seedling treatment (Absolute control) 79.30 12.02 160 93.3 13.32 164 T3 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung 86.31 13.30 188 114.33 15.28 196T4 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with soil and foliar

application of Non-homa ash at 30 and 60 DAP 107.00 13.69 220 151.6 20.00 252

T5 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with foliar application ofNon - homa ash at 30 and 60 DAP 93.35 13.00 196 123.6 16.66 220

T6 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with soil and foliarapplication of Agnihotra homa ash at 30 and 60 DAP 165.67 24.60 284 236.3 34.58 336

T7 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with foliar application ofAgnihotra homa ash at 30 and 60 DAP 156.33 17.93 244 170.3 26.69 304

T8 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with soil and foliarapplication of Om Tryambakam homa ash at 30 and 60 DAP 128.21 22.30 276 189.0 31.32 314

T9 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with foliar application ofOm Tryambakam homa ash at 30 and 60 DAP 114.32 14.68 240 156.3 22.65 284

T10 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with soil and foliarapplication of Gloria Biosol at 30 and 60 DAP 221.68 17.36 312 256.6 27.26 380

T11 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with foliar application ofGloria Biosol at 30 and 60 DAP 182.00 15.33 272 189.0 21.67 296

T12 - Recommended package of practices ( Non - homa and Non – organic site)in G - block of UAS, Dharwad (Conventional control) 116.67 16.64 260 149.3 25.66 292

T13 - Organics equivalent to RDF without seedling treatment at Non homa site in ablock of UAS, Dharwad (Control) 107.26 14.00 252 130.6 22.00 268

SEm±CD at 5%

3.289.58

0.441.28

6.7619.73

4.5913.39

0.351.00

5.3615.63

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

Kg/

ha

T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 T7 T8 T9 T10 T11 T12 T13Treatments

Available N Available P Available K

Fig. 8a: Soil available nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium at flowering stage in Tomato (Var. DMT-2) as influenced by different treatments

Fig. 8a: Soil available nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium at flowering stage in Tomato (Var. DMT-2) as influenced by different treatments

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

Kg/

ha

T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 T7 T8 T9 T10 T11 T12 T13Treatments

Available N Available P Available K

Fig. 8b: Soil available nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium at crop harvest stage in Tomato (Var. DMT-2) as influenced by different treatments

Fig. 8b: Soil available nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium at crop harvest stage in Tomato (Var. DMT-2) as influenced by different treatments

4.3.2 Soil micronutrientsThe data on soil micronutrients Cu, Zn, Mn and Fe (mg/kg) are presented in Table 5.

It is evident from the table that Cu content did not differ significantly when T1(1.27 and 1.50)was compared with T12 (1.23 and 1.50) at both flowering and at crop harvest stages.

The treatment T2 (0.74 and 0.83) differed significantly from T13 (1.23 and 1.43) atflowering and crop harvest stage. The treatment T3 (1.01) differed significantly from theorganic control treatment T1 (1.27).

The Non-homa ash treatment T4 (1.20) differed but T5 (1.00) did not differ significantlyfrom T3 (1.01) at both flowering and crop harvest stage but differed significantly amongthemselves.

The Agnihotra homa ash treatments, T6 (1.40 and 1.50) and T7 (1.23 and 1.34)differed significantly from T3 at both flowering and crop harvest stages and also differedsignificantly from each other.

The Om Tryambakam homa ash treatments T8 (1.30 and 1.60) and T9 (1.013 and1.26) differed significantly from T3 at both flowering and crop harvest stages and also differedsignificantly from each other.

At flowering and crop harvest stages, the Gloria Biosol treatments T10 (1.60 and 1.92)and T11 (1.30 and 1.43) differed significantly from T3 and also differed significantly amongthemselves.

Among the homa ash and Gloria Biosol treatments (soil and foliar), the treatments T6(1.40 and 1.50) and T10 (1.60 and 1.92) differed significantly from T1 (1.27 and 1.50) atflowering and crop harvest stages and also differed significantly between themselves.

It is evidence from the Table 5 that at flowering and at crop harvest stage, the Zn(mg/kg) content did not differ significantly when organic control, T1 was compared withconventional control, T12.

The treatment T2 (0.26), referred to as absolute control differed significantly from T13(0.56) at both flowering and crop harvest stages. The treatment T3 (0.34) differed significantlyfrom the organic control treatment T1 (0.57).

The Non-homa ash treatments, T4 (0.43 and 0.44) and T5 (0.35 and 0.42) differedsignificantly from T3 (0.32 and0.34), respectively at both flowering and crop harvest stagesand also among themselves.

The Agnihotra homa ash treatments, T6 (0.68 and0.73) and T7 (0.51 and 0.56)differed significantly among themselves and from T3 at both flowering and crop harveststages.

The Om Tryambakam homa ash treatments, T8 (0.63 and0.66) and T9 (0.46 and0.54)differed significantly among themselves and from T3 both at flowering and crop harveststages.

At flowering and crop harvest stages, the Gloria Biosol treatments, T10 (0.64 and0.73)and T11 (0.52 and0.56) differed significantly among themselves and also from T3.

Among homa ash and Gloria Biosol treatments (soil and foliar), the treatments T6(0.68 and0.73), T8 (0.63 and 0.66) and T10 (0.64 and 0.73) differed significantly from T1 (0.54and 0.57) at flowering and crop harvest stages, respectively.

It is evident from the Table 5 that at flowering stage, the Mn content (mg/kg) differedsignificantly, whereas at crop harvest stage it did not differ significantly from T1 (6.63 and7.43) as compared to conventional control, T12 (6.83 and 7.46), respectively.

The treatment T2 (5.92 and 5.96) referred to as absolute control differed significantlyat flowering stage from T13 (6.60), whereas at crop harvest stage it did not differ significantly.

The data reveal that the treatment T3 (6.34) differed significantly from the organiccontrol treatment T1 (6.63).

Table 5. Soil micronutrient content at flowering stage and after harvest of tomato (Var.DMT-2) field as influenced by different treatments

Flowering stage Crop harvest stageTreatment detailsCu Zn Mn Fe Cu Zn Mn Fe

(mg/kg) (mg/kg)T1 - Recommended dose of organics equivalent to RDF without seedling

treatment (Organic control) in homa atmosphere 1.27 0.54 6.63 7.73 1.50 0.57 7.43 8.23

T2 - No organic manures and no seedling treatment (Absolute control) 0.74 0.25 5.92 6.05 0.83 0.26 5.96 6.04 T3 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung 1.01 0.32 6.34 7.13 1.03 0.34 6.40 7.26T4 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with soil and foliar

application of Non-homa ash at 30 and 60 DAP 1.20 0.43 6.60 7.64 1.46 0.44 6.80 7.80

T5 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with foliar applicationof Non- homa ash at 30 and 60 DAP 1.00 0.35 6.46 7.30 1.06 0.42 6.63 7.40

T6 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with soil and foliarapplication of Agnihotra homa ash at 30 and 60 DAP 1.40 0.68 7.51 8.72 1.50 0.73 8.60 9.53

T7 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with foliar applicationof Agnihotra homa ash at 30 and 60 DAP 1.23 0.51 6.85 7.68 1.34 0.56 7.63 8.66

T8 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with soil and foliarapplication of Om Tryambakam homa ash at 30 and 60 DAP 1.30 0.63 7.20 8.40 1.60 0.66 8.20 9.03

T9 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with foliar applicationof Om Tryambakam homa ash at 30 and 60 DAP 1.13 0.46 6.53 7.50 1.26 0.54 7.40 8.40

T10 -Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with soil and foliarapplication of Gloria Biosol at 30 and 60 DAP 1.60 0.64 8.80 8.13 1.92 0.73 9.62 8.90

T11 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine + cow dung and with foliarapplication of Gloria Biosol at 30 and 60 DAP 1.30 0.52 7.06 7.36 1.43 0.56 7.97 8.23

T12 - Recommended package of practices ( Non - homa and Non – organicsite) in G - block of UAS, Dharwad (Conventional control) 1.23 0.54 6.83 7.90 1.50 0.58 7.46 8.40

T13 - Organics equivalent to RDF without seedling treatment at Non homasite in a block of UAS, Dharwad (Control) 1.23 0.53 6.60 7.60 1.43 0.56 7.40 8.13

SEm±CD at 5%

0.020.07

0.0060.019

0.030.09

0.030.09

0.030.09

0.010.04

0.020.07

0.030.07

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

mg/

kg

T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 T7 T8 T9 T10 T11 T12 T13Treatments

Cu Zn Mn Fe

Fig. 9a: Soil micronutrient content at flowering stage of tomato (Var. DMT-2) field as influenced by different treatments

Fig. 9a: Soil micronutrient content at flowering stage of tomato (Var. DMT-2) field as influenced by different treatments

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

mg/

kg

T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 T7 T8 T9 T10 T11 T12 T13Treatments

Cu Zn Mn Fe

Fig. 9b: Soil micronutrient content at after harvest of tomato (Var. DMT-2) field as influenced by different treatments

Fig. 9b: Soil micronutrient content at after harvest of tomato (Var. DMT-2) field as influenced by different treatments

The Non-homa ash treatments, T4 (6.60 and 6.80) and T5 (6.46 and 6.63) differedsignificantly among themselves and from T3 (6.34 and 6.40) at both flowering and cropharvest stages. The Agnihotra homa ash treatments, T6 (7.51 and 8.60) and T7 (6.85 and7.63) differed significantly among themselves and from T3 both at flowering and crop harveststages.

The Om Tryambakam homa ash treatments, T8 (7.20 and 8.20) and T9 (6.53 and7.40) differed significantly among themselves and also from T3 both at flowering and cropharvest stages.

At flowering and crop harvest stages, Gloria Biosol treatments T10 (8.80 and 9.62)and T11 (7.06 and 7.97) differed significantly from T3 (6.34 and 6.40) and among themselves,respectively.

Among the homa ash and Gloria Biosol treatments (soil and foliar), the treatments, T6(7.51 and 8.60), T8 (7.20 and 8.20) and T10 (8.80 and 9.62) differed significantly from T1 (6.63and 7.43), whereas T7 and T11 also differed significantly both at flowering and after cropharvest stages.

It is evident from Table 5 that at flowering and crop harvest stages. treatments T1(7.73 and 8.23) and T12 (7.60) differed significantly from each other, respectively.

The treatment T2 (6.05) referred to as absolute control differed significantly from T13(7.60 and 8.13) at both flowering and crop harvest stages.

The data reveal that the treatment T3 (7.13) differed significantly from the organiccontrol treatment T1 (7.73).

The Non-homa ash treatments T4 (7.64 and 7.80) and T5 (7.30 and 7.40) differedsignificantly among themselves and also from T3 (7.13 and 7.26) both at flowering and aftercrop harvest stages. Similarly, the Agnihotra homa ash treatments, T6 (8.72 and 9.53) and T7(7.68 and 8.66) differed significantly among themselves and from T3 at both flowering andcrop harvest stages.

The Om Tryambakam homa ash treatments T8 (8.40 and 9.03) and T9 (7.50 and 8.40)differed significantly from T3 both at flowering and crop harvest stage, respectively.

At flowering and crop harvest stages, the soil and foliar application of Gloria Biosol,T10 (8.13 and 8.90) and only foliar application of Gloria Biosol, T11 (7.36 and 8.23) differedsignificantly among themselves and also from T3.

Among the homa ash and Gloria Biosol treatments (soil and foliar), the treatments T6(8.72 and 9.53), T8 (8.40 and 9.03) and T10 (8.13 and 8.90) differed significantly from T1 (7.73and 8.23) both at flowering and crop harvest stages.

4.4 Microbial observations4.4.1 Bacterial population

The data on bacterial population (CFU × 105/ g) are presented in Table 6. At bothflowering and crop harvest stages, the bacterial count did not differ significantly whenrecommended dose of organics equivalent to RDF without seedling treatment (organiccontrol), T1 (76.68 and 95.35) was compared with recommended package of practices i.e.conventional control, T12 (73.67 and 91.66), respectively.

The treatments T2 (70.00 and 77.69) differed significantly from T13 (75.33 and 94.00)at both flowering and crop harvest stages, respectively. The treatment T3 (80.33) differed fromthe organic control treatment T1 (95.35) only at crop harvest stage.

The Non-homa ash treatments, T4 (76.33) and T5 (71.00) did not differ significantlyfrom T3 (74.65) but differed among themselves at flowering stage. However, at crop harveststage, T4 (84.64) differed but T5 (81.00) did not differ significantly from T3 (80.33).

The treatment T6 (87.68) differed significantly from T3 but T7 (75.32) did not differ atflowering stage. However, at crop harvest stage, T6 and T7 significantly differed from T3 andalso differed significantly among themselves.

The treatment T8 (81.67) differed significantly from T3 but T9 (73.29) did not differsignificantly from T3 (74.65) at flowering stage. At crop harvest stage, T8 (92.33) and T9(83.36) differed significantly from T3 (80.33) and also differed significantly among themselves.

At flowering and crop harvest stages, the soil and foliar application of Gloria Biosol,T10 (97.67 and 112.67) and only foliar application of Gloria Biosol, T11 (82.04 and 100.68)differed significantly as compared to T3 (74.65 and 80.33) and also differed significantlyamong themselves.

Among the homa ash and Gloria Biosol treatments (soil and foliar), the treatment T6(87.68 and 97.00), T8 (81.67 and 92.33) and T10 (97.67 and 112.67) differed significantly fromT1 (76.69 and 95.35) at both flowering and crop harvest stages, respectively.

4.4.2 Fungal populationIt is evident from Table 6 on fungal population (CFU×103/g) that at both flowering and

crop harvest stages, organic control T1 (12.30 and 14.00) did not differ significantly fromrecommended package of practices i.e. conventional control, T12 (11.67 and13.28),respectively.

The treatment T2, (9.36 and 10.64) as absolute control did not differ significantly fromT13 (12.00 and 12.69) both at flowering and crop harvest stages and also among themselves,respectively.

The treatment T3 (11.27 and 12.70) did not differ from the organic control treatmentT1 (12.30 and 14.00) at both the stages studied.

The Non-homa ash treatments T4, (11.67 and 13.69) and T5 (10.46 and 11.65), didnot differ significantly from T3 both at flowering and crop harvest stages and also differedsignificantly among themselves.

The Agnihotra homa ash treatment T6 (16.00 and 18.33) differed significantly from T3but T7 (12.50 and 12.65) did not differ at flowering and crop harvest stages from T3 (11.27 and12.70), respectively but differed significantly among themselves.

The Om Tryambakam homa ash treatment, T8 (13.69 and 16.67) differed significantlyfrom T3 (11.27 and 12.70) and T9 did not differ significantly from T3 but differed significantlyamong themselves.

At flowering and crop harvest stages, the Gloria Biosol treatment, T10 (17.58 and20.72) and T11 (12.00 and 16.30) differed significantly from to T3 (11.27 and 12.70),respectively and also differed significantly among themselves.

Among the homa ash and Gloria Biosol treatments (soil and foliar), the treatment T6with Agnihotra homa ash (16.00 and 18.33), T8 with Om Tryambakam homa ash (13.69 and16.67) and T10 (Gloria Biosol) differed significantly from T1 (12.30 and 14.00) i.e. organiccontrol both at flowering and crop harvest stages, respectively.

4.4.3 Actinomycetes populationIt is evident from the Table 6 that the actinomycetes population (CFU×103/g) at

flowering stage did not differ significantly when T1 (22.33 and 24.33) was compared with T12(21.00 and 22.00) but at crop harvest stage they differed significantly .

The treatment T2 (18.64 and 19.67) i.e. absolute control did not differ significantlyfrom Non-homa organic treatment T13 (21.00 and 22.00) at both flowering and at crop harveststages.

The data reveal that the treatment in which seedlings were dipped in the mixture offresh cow dung and cow urine, T3 (21.00 and 22.59) did not differ from the Homa organiccontrol treatment T1 (22.33 and 24.33), respectively.

The Non-homa ash treatment T4 (23.69) differed significantly and T5 (21.33) did notdiffer significantly from T3 (21.00) at flowering stage but at crop harvest stage T4 (26.40)differed but T5 (23.00) did not differ significantly from T3 (22.59). These treatments however,significantly differed among themselves.

Table 6. Microbial count for bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes in soil as influenced by different treatments in Tomato (Var.DMT-2) field

Flowering stage Crop harvest

Treatment details Bacteria(CFU × 10-

5/g)

Fungi(CFU × 10-3/g)

Actinomycetes(CFU ×10-3/g)

Bacteria(CFU ×10-5/g)

Fungi(CFU × 10-3/g)

Actinomycetes(CFU ×10-3/g)

T1 - Recommended dose of organics equivalent to RDF without seedlingtreatment (Organic control) in homa atmosphere 76.679 12.30 22.33 95.35 14.00 24.33

T2 - No organic manures and no seedling treatment (Absolute control) 70.00 9.36 18.64 77.69 10.64 19.67T3 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung 74.65 11.27 21.00 80.33 12.70 22.59T4 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with soil and foliar

application of Non-homa ash at 30 and 60 DAP 76.33 11.67 23.69 84.64 13.69 26.40

T5 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with foliar application ofNon- homa ash at 30 and 60 DAP 71.00 10.46 21.33 81.00 11.65 23.00

T6 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with soil and foliarapplication of Agnihotra homa ash at 30 and 60 DAP 87.68 16.00 27.00 97.00 18.33 30.67

T7 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with foliar application ofAgnihotra homa ash at 30 and 60 DAP 75.32 12.50 23.33 86.70 12.65 24.32

T8 -Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with soil and foliarapplication of Om Tryambakam homa ash at 30 and 60 DAP 81.67 13.69 24.66 92.33 16.67 27.68

T9 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with foliar application ofOm Tryambakam homa ash at 30 and 60 DAP 73.29 11.70 21.68 83.36 13.68 23.67

T10 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with soil and foliar application of Gloria Biosol at 30 and 60 DAP 97.67 17.58 28.33 112.67 20.72 35.80

T11 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with foliar application ofGloria Biosol at 30 and 60 DAP 82.04 12.00 24.00 100.68 16.30 27.59

T12 - Recommended package of practices ( Non - homa and Non – organicsite) in G - block of UAS, Dharwad (Conventional control) 73.67 11.67 21.00 91.66 13.28 22.00

T13 - Organics equivalent to RDF without seedling treatment at Non homa site ina block of UAS, Dharwad (Control) 75.33 12.00 21.67 94.00 12.69 23.67

SEm±CD at 5%

1.153.36

0.361.05

0.471.36

0.722.11

0.340.98

0.631.83

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 T7 T8 T9 T10 T11 T12 T13Treatments

Bacteria (CFU × 10 5/g) Fungi (CFU × 10 3/g) Actinomycetes (CFU × 10 3/g)

Fig. 10a: Microbial count for bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes in soil at flowering stage as influenced by different treatments in Tomato (Var. DMT-2) field

Fig. 10a: Microbial count for bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes in soil at flowering stage as influenced by different treatments in Tomato(Var. DMT-2) field

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 T7 T8 T9 T10 T11 T12 T13Treatments

Bacteria (CFU × 10 5/g) Fungi (CFU × 10 3/g) Actinomycetes (CFU × 10 3/g)

Fig. 10b : Microbial count for bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes in soil at crop harvest stage as influenced by different treatments in Tomato (Var. DMT-2) field

Fig. 10b : Microbial count for bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes in soil at crop harvest stage as influenced by different treatments in Tomato (Var. DMT-2) field

The Agnihotra homa ash treatment, T6 (27.00) and T7 (23.33) differed significantlyfrom T3 (21.00) at flowering stage. At crop harvest stage, T6 (30.67) differed significantly butT7 (24.32) did not differ significantly from T3 (22.59) but differed significantly amongthemselves.

The Om Tryambakam homa ash treatment T8 (24.66) differed significantly from T3(21.00) at flowering stage but T9 (21.68) did not differ significantly from T3. At crop harveststage, T8 (27.68) differed significantly but T9 (23.67) did not differ significantly from T3 (22.59).

At flowering and crop harvest stages, the of Gloria Biosol treatment T10 (28.33 and35.80) and T11 (24.00 and 27.59) differed significantly from T3 (21.00 and 22.60), respectivelyand also among themselves.

Among the homa ash and Gloria Biosol treatments (soil and foliar), the treatments T6(27.00 and 30.67), T8 (24.66 and 27.68) and T10 (28.33 and 35.80) differed significantly fromT1 (22.33 and 24.33) both at flowering and crop harvest stages, respectively.

4.5 Activity of soil dehydrogenaseThe data on the activity of soil dehydrogenase are presented in Table 7. It is evidence

from the table that at both flowering and crop harvest stages soil dehydrogenase activity (µgof TPF formed / g soil / 24 h) differed significantly when treatment, T1 (3.46 and 3.63) wascompared with T12 (2.98 and 3.13) at both flowering and after crop harvest stages,respectively.

The treatment T2 (1.40 and 1.82) i.e. absolute control differed significantly from T13(3.43 and 3.56) at flowering and crop harvest stages, respectively.

The treatment T3 (1.96 and 2.05) differed from the organic control treatment T1 (3.46and 3.63) at both flowering and crop harvest stage, respectively.

The Non-homa ash treatments T4 (3.05 and 3.26) and T5 (2.30 and 2.46) differedsignificantly from T3 (1.96 and 2.05) and also among themselves at both flowering and cropharvest stages, respectively.

The Agnihotra homa ash treatment T6 (4.06 and 4.24) and T7 (3.27 and 3.46) differedsignificantly from T3 (1.96 and 2.05) both at flowering and crop harvest stages, respectively.

The Om Tryambakam homa ash treatments T8 (3.53 and 3.83) and T9 (3.10 and 3.37)differed significantly from T3 (1.96 and 2.05) both at flowering and after crop harvest stages,respectively.

At Gloria Biosol treatments T10 (5.13 and 5.53) and T11 (4.34 and 4.46) differedsignificantly from T3 (1.96 and 2.05) at both the stages studied, respectively.

Among the homa ash and Gloria Biosol treatments (soil and foliar), the treatments T6(4.06 and 4.24), T8 (3.53 and 3.83) and T10 (5.13 and 5.53) differed significantly from T1 (3.46and 3.63) at flowering and after crop harvest stages, whereas T11 (4.34 and 4.46) differedsignificantly from T1 (3.46 and 3.63), respectively.

4.6 Activity of soil phosphataseIt is evident from the Table 7 that at both flowering and crop harvest stage soil

phosphatase (µg of PNP formed / g soil / h) activity differed significantly when T1 (13.07 and15.43) was compared with recommended package of practices, T12 (12.20 and 14.50),respectively.

The treatment T2 (10.83 and 11.30) differed significantly from T13 (13.00 and 15.37) atboth flowering and crop harvest stages, respectively.

The treatment T3 (11.36 and 13.36) differed significantly from the organic controltreatment T1 (13.07 and 15.43), at both the stages studied, respectively.

The Non-homa ash treatment T4 (12.90) and T5 (11.73) did not differ significantly fromT3 (11.36) at flowering stage but at crop harvest stage, T4 (16.27) and T5 (14.08) differedsignificantly from T3 (13.36) and differed significantly at both the stages among themselves.

Table 7. Soil dehydrogenase and phosphatase activities as influenced by different treatments in Tomato (Var.DMT-2) field

Soil dehydrogenase activity (µg ofTPF formed/g soil/24 h)

Phosphatase activity (µg of PNPreleased/g Soil/h)Treatment details

Flowering stage Crop harvest Flowering stage Crop harvestT1 - Recommended dose of organics equivalent to RDF without seedling treatment (Organic control) in homa

atmosphere 3.46 3.63 13.07 15.43

T2 - No organic manures and no seedling treatment (Absolute control) 1.40 1.82 10.83 11.30T3 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung 1.96 2.05 11.36 13.36

T4 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with soil and foliar application of Non-homa ash at 30 and 60 DAP

3.05 3.26 12.90 16.27

T5 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with foliar application of Non- homa ash at 30 and 60 DAP 2.30 2.46 11.73 14.08

T6 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with soil and foliar application of Agnihotra homa ash at 30 and 60 DAP 4.06 4.24 17.00 19.57

T7 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with foliar application of Agnihotra homa ash at 30 and 60 DAP

3.27 3.46 15.73 16.45

T8 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with soil and foliar application of Om Tryambakam homa ash at 30 and 60 DAP 3.53 3.83 16.24 17.67

T9 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with foliar application of Om Tryambakam homa ash at 30 and 60 DAP 3.10 3.37 14.20 15.69

T10 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with soil and foliar application of Gloria Biosol at 30 and 60 DAP

5.13 5.53 19.47 20.72

T11 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with foliar application of Gloria Biosol at 30 and 60 DAP 4.34 4.46 16.30 17.44T12 - Recommended package of practices ( Non - homa and Non – organic site) in G - block of UAS, Dharwad

(Conventional control) 2.98 3.13 12.20 14.50

T13 - Organics equivalent to RDF without seedling treatment at Non homa site in a block of UAS, Dharwad(Control) 3.43 3.56 13.00 15.37

SEm±CD at 5%

0.140.41

0.040.11

0.210.61

0.170.49

0

5

10

15

20

25

µg o

f TP

F fo

rmed

/g s

oil/2

4 h

T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 T7 T8 T9 T10 T11 T12 T13Treatments

Flowering stage Crop harvest Flowering stage Crop harvest

Fig. 11: Soil dehydrogenase and phosphatase activities as influenced by different treatments in Tomato (Var. DMT-2) field

(µg

of p

NP

rele

ased

/g S

oil/h

)

Fig. 11: Soil dehydrogenase and phosphatase activities as influenced by different treatments in Tomato (Var. DMT-2) field

The Agnihotra homa ash treatment T6 (17.00 and 19.57) and T7 (15.73 and 16.45)differed significantly from T3 (11.36 and 13.36), respectively at both flowering and cropharvest stages and also differed significantly among themselves.

The Om Tryambakam homa ash treatments, T8 (16.24 and 17.67) and T9 (14.20 and15.69) differed significantly from T3 (11.36 and 13.36), respectively at flowering and cropharvest stages and also differed significantly among themselves.

At Gloria Biosol treatments, T10 (19.47 and 20.72) and T11 (16.30 and 17.44) differedsignificantly from to T3 (11.36 and 13.36), respectively and also differed significantly amongthemselves.

Among the homa ash and Gloria Biosol treatments (soil and foliar), the treatment T6(17.00 and 19.57), T8 (16.24 and 17.67) and T10 (19.47 and 20.72) differed significantly fromT1 (13.07 and 15.43) both at flowering and crop harvest stages, whereas only foliarapplication of Gloria Biosol, T11 (16.30 and 17.44) and T7 (15.73 and 16.45) significantlydiffered from T1.

4.7 Quality parameters4.7.1 Ascorbic acid content

The data on ascorbic acid content in tomato fruits are presented in Table 8. It isevidence from the table that ascorbic acid (mg/100g) content differed significantly whentreatment, T1 (14.23) was compared with the treatment, T12 (13.32).

The treatment T2 (12.41) referred to as absolute control, did not differ significantlyfrom treatment T13 (13.62) at crop harvest stage. The treatment T3 (13.31) also did not differfrom the organic control treatment T1 (14.23).

The Non-homa ash treatment T4 (16.02) differed significantly from T3 (13.31) but T5(13.93) did not differ significantly from T3, however these treatments differed significantlyamong themselves.

The Agnihotra homa ash treatments T6 (19.02) and T7 (15.73) differed significantlyfrom T3 (13.31) and also differed significantly among themselves.

The Om Tryambakam homa ash treatment, T8 (16.93) differed from T3 (13.31) but T9(14.22) did not differ significantly from T3 (13.31). However, T8 and T9 differed significantlyamong themselves.

The Gloria Biosol treatments T10 (21.21) and T11 (16.34) differed significantly from T3(13.31) and also differed significantly among themselves at crop harvest stage.

Among the homa ash and Gloria Biosol treatments (soil and foliar), the treatments T6(19.02), T8 (16.93) and T10 (21.21) differed significantly from T1 (14.23), whereas only foliarapplication of Gloria Biosol, T11 (16.34) significantly differed from T1.

4.7.2 Lycopene contentIt is evident from the Table 8 that lycopene content in tomato fruit (mg/100g) differed

significantly when treatment, T1 (5.16) was compared with T12 (4.83).

The treatment T2 (4.03) referred to as absolute control differed significantly from T13(4.96) at crop harvest stage. The treatment T3 (4.17) differed significantly from the organiccontrol treatment T1 (5.16).

The Non-homa ash treatment T4 (5.13) differed significantly from T3 but T5 (4.23) didnot differ significantly from T3 (4.17). However, these treatments differed significantly fromeach other.

The Agnihotra homa ash treatments, T6 (6.56) and T7 (4.63) differed significantly fromT3 (4.17) and also differed significantly among themselves.

The Om Tryambakam homa ash treatments, T8 (6.03) and, T9 (4.41) differedsignificantly from T3 (4.17) at the crop harvest and also differed among themselves.

At the crop harvest stage, Gloria Biosol treatments, T10 (7.26) and T11 (5.27) differedsignificantly as compared to T3 (4.17) and also differed significantly among themselves.

Among the homa ash and Gloria Biosol treatments (soil and foliar), the treatments T6(6.56), T8 (6.03) and T10 (7.26) differed significantly from T1 (5.16).

4.7.3 Phenol contentIt is evident from the Table 8 that phenol content in tomato fruit (mg/100g) differed

significantly when treatment T1 (10.57) was compared with T12 (9.17).

The treatment T2 (7.68) referred to as absolute control differed significantly from T13(10.30). The treatment T3 (8.64) also differed significantly from the organic control treatmentT1 (10.57).

The Non-homa ash treatments T4 (9.50) and T5 (8.75) differed significantly from T3(8.64) and also differed among themselves.

The Agnihotra homa ash treatments, T6 (10.67) and T7 (8.83) differed significantlyfrom T3 (8.64) and also differed significantly among themselves.

The Om Tryambakam homa ash treatments, T8 (11.19) and T9 (10.37) differedsignificantly from T3 (8.64) at the crop harvest stage and also differed significantly amongthemselves.

At the crop harvest stage, Gloria Biosol treatments, T10 (11.34) and T11 (9.32) differedsignificantly from T3 (8.64) and also significantly differed among themselves.

Among the homa ash and Gloria Biosol treatments (soil and foliar), the treatment T6(10.67), T8 (11.19) and T10 (11.34) differed significantly from T1 (10.57).

4.7.4 Shelf lifeThe data on shelf life, total sugars and TSS are presented in Table 9. It is evident

from the table that shelf life of tomato fruit (expressed in days) differed significantly whentreatment T1 (9.67) was compared with T12 (8.83).

The absolute control treatment T2 (7.83) differed significantly from treatment T13(9.50). The treatment T3 (8.50) did not differ from the organic control treatment T1 (9.67).

The Non-homa ash treatment T4 (10.52) differed significantly from T3 but T5 (9.15) didnot differ significantly from T3 (8.50). However, these treatments differed significantly fromeach other.

The Agnihotra homa ash treatments, T6 (12.83) and T7 (11.50) differed significantlyfrom T3 (8.50) and also differed significantly among themselves.

The Om Tryambakam homa ash treatments, T8 (12.48) and T9 (10.67) differedsignificantly from T3 (8.50) and also differed among themselves.

At the crop harvest stage, Gloria Biosol treatments, T10 (12.20) and T11 (10.00)treatments differed significantly from T3 (8.50). After the fruit picking, these treatments alsodiffered significantly among themselves.

Among the homa ash and Gloria Biosol treatments (soil and foliar), the treatments T6(11.50), T8 (12.50) and T10 (12.20) differed significantly from T1 (9.67).

4.7.5 Total sugar contentIt is evident from the Table 9 that total sugar content (mg/100g) in tomato fruit did not

differ significantly T1 (4.75) was compared with T12 (4.45).

The treatment T2 (3.29) differed significantly from T13 (4.59). The treatment T3 (3.59)differed significantly from the Homa organic control treatment T1 (4.75).

The Non-homa ash treatment T4 (4.21) differed significantly from T3 (3.59) but T5(3.74) did not differ significantly from T3. The treatments T4 and T5 differed significantly fromeach other.

Table 8. Ascorbic acid, lycopene and phenol content of tomato (Var.DMT-2) as influenced by different treatments

Ascorbic acid Lycopene PhenolsTreatment details

(mg/ 100g)

T1 - Recommended dose of organics equivalent to RDF without treatment (Organic control) in homa atmosphere 14.23 5.16 10.57T2 - No organic manures and no seedling treatment (Absolute control) 12.41 4.03 7.68T3 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung 13.31 4.17 8.64T4 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with soil and foliar application of Non-homa ash t at 30 and 60 DAP

16.02 5.13 9.50

T5 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with foliar application of Non- homa ash at 30 and 60 DAP

13.93 4.23 8.75

T6 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with soil and foliar application of Agnihotra homa ash at 30 and 60 DAP

19.02 6.56 10.67

T7 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with foliar application of Agnihotra homa ash at 30 and 60 DAP

15.73 4.63 8.83

T8 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with soil and foliar application of Om Tryambakamhoma ash

at 30 and 60 DAP16.93 6.03 11.19

T9 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with foliar application of Om Tryambakam homa ash at 30 and 60 DAP

14.22 4.41 10.37

T10 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with soil and foliar application of Gloria Biosol at 30 and 60 DAP

21.21 7.26 11.34

T11 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with foliar application of Gloria Biosol at 30 and 60 DAP 16.34 5.27 9.32T12 - Recommended package of practices ( Non - homa and Non – organic site) in G - block of UAS, Dharwad

(Conventional control) 13.32 4.83 9.17

T13-Organics equivalent to RDF without seedling treatment at Non homa site in a block of UAS, Dharwad(Control) 13.62 4.96 10.30

SEm±CD at 5%

0.340.99

0.050.14

0.050.13

0

5

10

15

20

25

mg/

100

g

T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 T7 T8 T9 T10 T11 T12 T13Treatments

Ascorbic acid Lycopene Phenols

Fig. 12: Ascorbic acid, lycopene and phenol content of tomato (Var. DMT-2) as influenced by different treatments

Fig. 12: Ascorbic acid, lycopene and phenol content of tomato (Var. DMT-2) as influenced by different treatments

Table 9. Shelf life, total sugar and TSS content of tomato (Var.DMT-2) as influenced by different treatments

Treatment details Shelf life (days) Total sugar(mg/ 100g) TSS ( brix)

T1 - Recommended dose of organics equivalent to RDF without seedling treatment (Organic control) in homaatmosphere 9..67 4.75 4.20

T2 - No organic manures and no seedling treatment (Absolute control) 7.83 3.29 3.60

T3 -Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung 8.50 3.59 3.90T4 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with soil and foliar application of Non-homa ash at 30 and 60 DAP 10.52 4.21 4.00

T5 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with foliar application of Non- homa as at 30 and 60 DAP 9.15 3.74 3.93

T6 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with soil and foliar application of Agnihotra homa ash at 30 and60 DAP 12.83 4.93 4.47

T7 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with foliar application of Agnihotra homa ash at 30 and 60 DA 11.50 4.37 4.13

T8 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with soil and foliar application of Om Tryambakam homaash at 30 and fresh 60 DAP

12.48 4.82 4.27

T9 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with foliar application of Om Tryambakam homa ash at 30 and 60 DAP 10.67 4.30 4.13

T10 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with soil and foliar application of Gloria Biosol at 30 and 60 DAP 12.20 5.21 4.63

T11 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with foliar application of Gloria Biosol at 30 and 60 DAP 10.00 4.51 4.33T12 - Recommended package of practices ( Non - homa and Non – organic site) in G - block of UAS, Dharwad

(Conventional control) 8.83 4.45 4.07

T13 - Organics equivalent to RDF without seedling treatment at Non homa site in a block of UAS, Dharwad(Control) 9.50 4.59 4.17

SEm±CD at 5%

0.250.73

0.040.10

0.040.12

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 T7 T8 T9 T10 T11 T12 T13Treatments

Shelf life (days) Total sugar (mg/ 100g) TSS ( brix)

Fig. 13: Shelf life, total sugar and TSS content of tomato (Var. DMT-2) as influenced by different treatments

Fig. 13: Shelf life, total sugar and TSS content of tomato (Var. DMT-2) as influenced by different treatments

Table 10. Leaf spot and fruit borer in tomato (Var.DMT-2) field as influenced by different treatments

Treatment details Leaf spot (%) Fruit borer (%)

T1 - Recommended dose of organics equivalent to RDF without seedling treatment (Organic control) in homa atmosphere 18.38 14.76T2 - No organic manures and no seedling treatment (Absolute control) 21.67 21.35T3 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung 19.50 19.39T4 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with soil and foliar application of Non-homa ash at 30 and 60 DAP

16.38 16.10

T5 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with foliar application of Non- homa ash at 30 and 60 DAP

18.72 18.89

T6 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with soil and foliar application of Agnihotra homa ash at 30 and 60 DAP

14.84 13.74

T7 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with foliar application of Agnihotra homa ash at 30 and 60 DAP

17.25 15.52

T8 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with soil and foliar application of Om Tryambakam homa ash at 30 and 60 DAP

15.76 11.84

T9 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with foliar application of Om Tryambakam homa ash at 30 and 60 DAP

16.28 14.52

T10 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine and cow dung with soil and foliar application of Gloria Biosol at 30 and 60 DAP

11.54 8.83

T11 - Seedlings dipped in fresh cow urine + cow dung and with foliar application of Gloria Biosol at 30 and 60 DAP 13.82 10.71T12 - Recommended package of practices ( Non - homa and Non – organic site) in G - block of UAS, Dharwad

(Conventional control)25.64 23.66

T13 - Organics equivalent to RDF without seedling treatment at Non homa site in a block of UAS, Dharwad (Control) 21.56 21.70

SEm±CD at 5%

0.230.66

0.591.72

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Perc

enta

ge

T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 T7 T8 T9 T10 T11 T12 T13Treatments

Leaf spot (%) Fruit borer (%)

Fig. 14: Leaf spot and fruit borer in tomato (Var. DMT-2) field as influenced by different treatments

Fig. 14: Leaf spot and fruit borer in tomato (Var. DMT-2) field as influenced by different treatments

The Agnihotra homa ash treatments, T6 (4.93) and T7 (4.37) differed significantly fromT3 (3.59) and also differed significantly among themselves. The Om Tryambakam homa ashtreatments, T8 (4.82) and T9 (4.30) differed significantly from T3 (3.59) and also differedsignificantly among themselves.

At the crop harvest stage, Gloria Biosol treatments, T10 (5.21) and T11 (4.51) differedsignificantly from T3 (3.59) and also significantly differed among themselves.

Among the homa ash and Gloria Biosol treatments (soil and foliar), the treatment T6(4.93), T8 (4.82) and T10 (5.21) differed significantly from T1 (4.75).

4.7.6 Total soluble solidsIt is evident from the Table 9 that total soluble solid (TSS) content in tomato fruit (

Brix) differed significantly when T1 (4.20) was compared with T12 (4.07).

The treatment T2 (3.60) referred to as absolute control differed significantly from T13(4.17). The treatment T3 (3.90) differed from the organic control treatment T1 (4.20).

The Non-homa ash treatments T4 (4.00) and T5 (3.93) differed significantly from T3(3.90). The Agnihotra homa ash treatments, T6 (4.47) and T7 (4.13) differed significantly fromT3 (3.90) and also differed among themselves.

The Om Tryambakam homa ash treatments, T8 (4.27) and \ T9 (4.13) differedsignificantly from T3 (3.90) and also differed significantly among themselves.

At the crop harvest stage, Gloria Biosol treatments, T10 (4.63) and T11 (4.33) differedsignificantly from T3 (3.90) and also differed significantly among themselves.

Among the homa ash and Gloria Biosol treatments (soil and foliar), the treatments T6(4.47), T8 (4.27) and T10 (4.63) differed significantly from T1 (4.20).

4.8 Disease incidenceThe data on the incidence of leaf spot and fruit borer are presented in Table 10. It is

evident from the table that leaf spot of tomato (%) differed significantly when organic controlT1 (18.38) was compared with conventional control, T12 (25.64).

The treatment T2 (21.67) referred to as absolute control did not differ significantlyfrom treatment T13 (21.56). The treatment T3 (19.50) differed significantly from the organiccontrol treatment T1 (18.38).

The Non-homa ash treatment T4 (16.38) differed significantly from T3 but T5 (18.72)did not differ significantly from T3 (19.50), However, they differed significantly amongthemselves. The Agnihotra homa ash treatments, T6 (14.84) and T7 (17.25) differedsignificantly from T3 (19.50) and also differed significantly among themselves.

The Om Tryambakam homa ash treatments, T8 (15.76) and T9 (16.28) differedsignificantly from T3 (19.50). At the crop harvest stage, Gloria Biosol treatments, T10 (11.54)and T11 (13.82) differed significantly from T3 (19.50).

4.9 Pest incidence It is evident from the Table 10 that fruit borer of tomato (%) differed significantly

when treatment T1 (14.76) was compared with, T12 (23.66).

The treatment T2 (21.35) did not differ significantly from treatment T13 (21.70). Thetreatment T3 (19.39) did not differ significantly from the organic control treatment, T1 (14.76).

The Non-homa ash treatment T4 (16.10) differed significantly from T3 and T5 (18.89)did not differ significantly from T3 (19.39) but differed significantly among themselves.

The Agnihotra homa ash treatments, T6 (13.74) and T7 (15.52) differed significantlyfrom T3 (19.39) and also differed among themselves. The Om Tryambakam homa ashtreatments, T8 (11.84) and T9 (14.52) differed significantly from T3 (19.39) and also differedsignificantly among themselves.

At the crop harvest stage, Gloria Biosol treatments, T10 (8.83) and T11 (10.71) differedsignificantly from T3 (19.39) and also differed significantly among themselves.

5. DISCUSSION

Vegetables constitute a substantial part of human diet supplying vitamins and minerals. Among the large group of vegetables, tomato is one of the important vegetables grown throughout the world because of its health improving constituents like lycopene, minerals and vitamins. It is being consumed in fresh or cooked or in processed form. For the past six decades, with greed to get higher yields, there has been a tendency for indiscriminate use of synthetic chemical fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides in the production system. This has led to environmental degradation and accumulation of hazardous chemicals in plants and their produce causing health concerns in consumers. Besides, there is also a growing threat to the soil health, environmental safety and crop productivity. This could be minimized through homa organic farming (HOF) system which involves the combined use of organic sources, homa ash and biological management of pests and diseases. The homa organic culture, in particular, as the produce is consumed in fresh and within a short period after harvest, leaves little scope for degradation of health hazardous pesticide residues. Therefore, the present investigation was undertaken with a view to study the effect of HOF on growth, yield and quality of tomato as well as on health of the soil and environment. The results obtained in the present study are discussed in this chapter.

Age-old practices in agriculture have undergone sweeping changes with the introduction of latest scientific techniques involving machineries and variety of chemicals including poisonous ones to get maximum yield from available land. In this attempt, Agnihotra and Om Tryambakam homa (Yajnya) were performed in the field and ash obtained was used as one of the organic inputs in an agricultural field. HOF utilizes organic farming as a base and hence, in the present investigation, no chemical fertilizers, pesticides and insecticides and genetically modified seeds were used. For conducting homa, dung from cows and bullocks of Indian origin was used in the preparation of dried dung cakes and ghee prepared from Gir cows from Gujarat was used. In addition to these items, organically grown and unpolished, full rice grains were also used.

5.1 Effect of homa farming practices on growth, yield of tomato crop

In the present study, plant height, number of leaves, number branches was significantly influenced by Gloria Biosol treatments and was highest at flowering and crop harvest stages and lowest in absolute control, wherein only organic manures without bio-fertilizer treatment were supplied to the plant (Table 1). This may be due to solublization effect of plant nutrients by FYM and increased uptake of N, P and K and also due to its favourable effect on several physical properties of the soil as observed by Subbaiah et al. (1983).

The increase in growth attributes observed in this investigation (Table 2) may be due to certain growth promoting substances secreted by the microbial inoculants, which in turn might have led to better root development, better transportation of water and uptake and deposition of nutrients. Similar observations were made by Mohandas (1987) and Kumaraswamy and Madalageri (1990) in other crops like knol-khol, brinjal etc.

The dry matter production and its accumulation in different parts of the plants can be achieved only with the development of sound vegetative growth viz., plant height and root length. In the present study, these growth parameters recorded significantly higher values with the homa ash and application of Gloria Biosol, a fermented organic manure at different stages of crop growth (Tables 1 and 2). According to Muthuvel (2002) four sprays of Panchagavya, (3 %) and Moringa leaf extract sprayed @ 25 ml per plant resulted in higher plant height, number of branches per plant. Saraswathy (2003) reported that the root length, root girth, root primaries, root fresh weight, dry weight and root bark weight per plant were highest in Ashwagandha under the treatment, pinching with wider spacing and Panchagavya (3% spray). It may be remembered that fermented liquid organic manures contain microbial load and plant growth promoting substances in addition to nutrients that help in improving plant growth, metabolic activities and resistance to pest and diseases (Sreenivasa et al., 2009).

In the present study, the fruit yield of tomato (Table 3) due to soil and foliar application of Gloria Biosol (T10) differed significantly from other homa treatments (T4 to T11) and organic control (T1). The Gloria Biosol treatment (T10) recorded significantly higher fruit yield of plants as compared to Non-homa ash (T4 and T5) and organic treatment. The better nutrient availability and nutrient uptake might have increased the growth and yield of crop. Kondapanaidu (2008) reported that the treatment (50% RDN and 50% N through FYM with bio-fertilizer and Panchagavya) recorded significantly higher dry chilli yield which was mediated by biological processes as noticed by higher microbial and soil enzyme activity. According to Birendra and Christopher (2007), foliar spray of Panchagavya (3%) resulted in significant increase in the yield attributes. It may be noted here that Biosol used in this study is a biodigester recommended by Fivefold Mission (FFPM), Dhule, Maharashtra for farming operations.

It is evident from the data on agronomical observations (Tables 1) that soil application of Gloria Biosol registered significant increase both at 30 and 60 DAP. Gloria Biosol application significantly increased (DMA) dry matter accumulation of whole plant (Table 2), which was between 7-25 per cent. It may be recalled here that Gloria Biosol contains 750 g of Agnihotra ash in 200 liters of water. This additional homa ash present in the Gloria Biosol treatment might have produced better results. It may be noted here that Agnihotra homa ash contains 97 per cent P2O5 (Potdar, 1984) which was probably useful in the observed increment in agronomical characters.

A glance at the effect of Agnihotra homa ash, Om Tryambakam homa ash and Non-homa ash on the number of fruits (Table 3) reveals that soil and foliar application of Agnihotra homa ash treatment (T6) was superior in significantly increasing the number of fruits (89.6 %) against their organic control T2. It may also be seen from the data that number of fruits per plant (Table 3) was significantly higher with Agnihotra homa ash treatment (T6) followed by Om Tryambakam homa ash treatment (T8). In case of fruit weight per plant also, Agnihotra homa ash registered an upper hand. The results on the number of fruits per plant, yield per plant and yield per hectare reveal that Agnihotra Homa ash had a better effect over Om Tryambakam homa ash and Non-homa ash.

Mondkar (1982) had reported beneficial effects of Agnihotra atmosphere (smoke) in reducing aerial microbial population. Fernandes (1985) had also reported the beneficial effects of Agnihotra homa smoke on the yield of Canadeal Barba Negra variety of wheat. The seeds of this variety were planted very close to the place where daily Agnihotra was performed. The wheat crop received no ash but only smoke from the Agnihotra fire which enabled wheat to grow very high and yield was double. Heschl (2009) reported about the beneficial effects of Agnihotra smoke on soybean crop. At Indore in Madhya Pradesh, Agnihotra was performed daily in the farm of Prestige Feed Mills. The neighbouring farms which did not perform Agnihotra but received only smoke from the daily performance of Agnihotra at the farm of the Mills got the best yield of soybean varying from 700 kg to 1200 kg per ha as against their own best of 350 kg per ha in the previous year as compared to 1800 kg per ha soybean production in the farm of the mills.

5.2 Effect of homa farming practices on soil macro and micro nutrient properties

Agnihotra homa ash has been reported to be useful in releasing P from the soil (Tung Ming, 1987). Although the observations on P solubilizing bacteria in the Gloria Biosol (Table 4) does not exhibit efficacy of Gloria Biosol over Agnihotra ash in agricultural operations as compared to other bio-digesters used in Organic farming (Palekar, 2006), its efficacy in releasing increased amount of Zn (15%) and increasing soil dehydrogenase activity by over 5-52 per cent can not be overlooked in this investigation (Table 5) which is related to soil fertility. The overall results on increase in the available N, P and K (Table 4) at flowering and at harvest stages of tomato crop and increased soil micronutrients like Cu, Mn, Zn and Fe at flowering stage and at harvest stages of tomato crop as influenced by different treatments, increase in microbial count for bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes and soil dehydrogenase activity derives support from the observations of Johnson and Heschl (2009), Mutalikdesai (2009) and Naik (2009) that the rejuvenation of soil occurs due to different homa treatments of Gloria Biosol.

Among various treatments studied, the data on the variation in available nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium and organic carbon with the application of organic treatment receives support from the observations of Giraddi (1993) in vermicompost. The observed increase in nitrogen availability in this study (Table 5) may be attributed to improved soil properties and nodulation due to homa treatments which might have led to enhanced N-fixation and mineralization of organic N, minimizing nitrogen loss. Lowest N content observed in control plot (93.3 kg/ha) at harvest stage may be due to no addition of organic nutrients and no seedling treatment (T2). The observation that soil and foliar application of Gloria Biosol which recorded higher content of available potassium (T10) receives support from Nalawadmath et al. (2003) who had observed build up of maximum available K (33%) only in organic treatments in vertisols of Bellay in Karnataka.

Results of the investigation conducted by Kumari Namrata (2010) in soybean lend support to the observations of this investigation. She had observed up to 84 per cent increase in the soil Zn content in her soybean experiment with homa treatments and up to 342 per cent increase in soil dehydrogenase activity and excellent root nodulation as compared to control wherein seeds were treated with fresh cow dung and cow urine. As compared to other liquid bio-digesters like Panchagavya (Palekar, 2006), Gloria Biosol becomes a very easily available bio-fertilizer of low cost within the reach of even poor farmers. Soil application of Gloria Biosol was reported by her to be more effective than its foliar application (117%) with respect to soil dehydrogenase activity.

Application of homa organic ash plays a major role in dissolution of native phosphorus compounds and makes them available to the plants besides mineralization as they contain appreciable amount of phosphorus (Potdar, 1984). Incorporation of organic matter in the soil in the form of Gloria Biosol might have increased availability of soil phosphate due to chelating of Fe and Al by metabolites of microbial decomposition which are responsible for the phosphate fixation in soil and organic acids during decomposition of organic manure which might have had favourable effect in converting insoluble form of phosphorus to soluble form (Gardner et al., 1988).

The available P content of soil was also highest in T6 in treatment (Table 4). This may be due to the production of organic acids by P solublisers during decomposition of the added organic manures which, in turn, might have converted fixed P in to available P in such soils. Further, root inoculation of bioagents in these organic treatments might have increased available N which exerted synergistic effect on available P. It is also possible that the chelating effect of organic matter might have lowered its fixation in to the Al-P and Fe-P in the soil. Similar results were reported by Saravanapandian (1998) and Kale et al. (1992). It may also be remembered that the P2O5 content of Agnihotra ash has been reported to be 97 per cent. Tung Ming (1987) has reported that Agnihotra homa ash effectively released P from the soil. Available soil K was higher in organic treatments with T10 recording highest available soil K (380 kg/ha) in this investigation. This may be due to the organic and inorganic acids produced during decomposition of organic manures helping the release of minerally bound insoluble potassium and also may be due to reduced the potassium fixation in light of the observations of Prasad and Rokima (1991).

Micronutrients are essential for enzymes, metabolic activity and for oxidation and reduction reactions in the plant system. Organic manures are the rich sources of these micronutrients. This has been reflected in their increased content in the soils for the treatments wherever organics were used in the present investigation. It may be recalled that the highest values for available Cu, Zn, Mn and Fe for most of these nutrients were recorded in T10 and T6 where entire tomato plant nutrient requirement of N was met by Gloria Biosol in the present investigation (Table 5).

The excessive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides in agriculture has received severe criticism from the environmentally conscious people who opined that increase in agricultural production was achieved at the cost of soil health (Cooke, 1982). The environmental degradation due to faulty agricultural practices has made several experts to focus their attention on ecologically sound, viable and sustainable farming system.

Cu is found in primary and secondary minerals but occurs primarily in organic complexes. Cu plays an important role in photosynthesis as a part of chloroplast enzyme plastocyanin in the electron transport system. It also helps in the conversion of ferrous ions to

ferric ions. Cu is part of several oxidases such as ascorbic acid oxidases and polyphenol oxidases. Species and cultivars differ in tolerance to copper (Gardner et al., 1988) Use of copper pyramid and Shri Yantram in the field during performance of homa and Gloria Biosol, respectively plays important roles in HOF. In addition, electric and heat conduction by copper and its spermicidal activities are well known. Increase in the Cu content of soil in homa atmosphere (T11) as compared to control (T2) in this study reflects role of Cu in HOF.

The Agnihotra treatments act in two ways one by rejuvenating the soil micro flora and other reducing the pest and insect attack. That homa atmosphere reduces the aerial micro flora as has been reported by Bhujbal (1982). In the present investigation, increase in soil micro flora (Table 6) has been observed due to homa atmosphere and Gloria Biosol application (T10).

The healthy soils have been reported to be beneficial for the good health of the plants (Latha and Chellamuthu, 2001 and Rameshwar et al., 2009). In this investigation, an attempt was made to create healthy soil and environment for the tomato crop through performance of homa. It may be inferred from the results obtained in this study that special homa preparations have been found to be very useful in this regard which are not designed to kill, but to strengthen the health of the plants, so that they can resist the attack from poisonous chemicals through soil, water and the environment as also observed by Mutalikdesai (2009) and Kumari Namrata (2010).

It may be noted that cows of Indian origin are recommended in HOF, but people prefer hybrid cows in view of higher milk produced by the later. It may be worthwhile to study hybrid cows and even buffaloes in future experiments in HOF since the main focus of HOF is to improve the soil and environmental health by utilising what is available in the farm. It has been reported that one dropping of an animal supplies microbial load sufficient for 2.5 acres of land. In India, there is no dearth of farm animals, their droppings can maintain soil fertility. However, use of tractor for field operations is prevalent these days which can do the field operations but can not provide microbial load. These homa practices are both cheap and affordable by all types of farmers, rich and poor. The ‘Homa therapy’ may thus provide equal opportunity to big landlords and even farmers with small land holdings.

Manganese has been recognized as an essential mineral nutrient for acquisition of photosynthetic competence in higher plants but it is not required in bacterial photosynthetic system in which there is no Photo system II (PS II). Mn binds to the chloroplast at two kinds of sites and PS II contains 3 Mn atoms for 200 chlorophyll atoms. Some enzymes like phosphatases and carboxylases have been reported to be required for Mn

2+ synthesis

(Gardner et al., 1988).

When the effect of homa on the macro and micronutrients was studied due to application of Om Tryambakam Homa ash, positive results emerged out (Tables 5). It may be observed that the treatment wherein seedlings were dipped in fresh cow dung, cow urine with soil and foliar application of Om Tryambakam homa ash (T8) was equally effective when compared with the seedlings dipped in fresh cow dung, cow urine with soil and foliar application of Gloria Biosol (T10) in registering highest amount of Cu as compared to control (T2). These observations lend support to the results of Kumari Namrata (2010) who established for the first time efficacy of Om Tryambakum homa ash in soybean crop in combination with Biosol.

Shendye (2009) reported that Agnihotra pot produces copper oxides and Far Infra Red (FIR) bio-energy which is especially produced by all the transition elements including copper. It may be noted that Agnihotra homa pot is made up of copper and has a semi-pyramid shape. Pyramid is a coin word for pyre means fire and mid means in the midst i.e. fire in the center. Fire is a special state of matter beyond solid, liquid and gas. The magical power of pyramids built in an inverted position in preserving dead bodies in Egypt is well known. It may be recalled here that dried fresh cow dung cakes are burnt in the copper semi-pyramid used for performing the Agnihotra homa twice a day at sun rise and sun set. A similar copper semi-pyramid is used for the performance of Om Tryambakam homa for almost for 3-4 h every day. The semi-pyramids used while performing homa release of lots of bio-energy in the atmosphere which heals it. The central idea of ‘Homa therapy’ is that you heal the atmosphere and the healed atmosphere heals you (Paranjpe, 1989).

In the present investigation Cu, Mn, Zn and Fe registered higher values due to different homa treatments. It has been reported in the scientific literature that these micronutrients are essential for various biological functions. The role of Fe in oxidative metabolism and in the electron transport chain needs no special mention. To understand the role of these micronutrients in soil treated with homa products and their mode of action, further studies may be required.

It may be recalled here that effectiveness of Agnihotra homa ash was proved in increasing the soil Zn, Fe and P content and shelf life of tomato fruits (T6) in this study as compared to Homa organic control T1.

5.3 Effect of homa on soil biological properties

All chemical reactions in soil involve enzymes which mainly depend on soil microbes and soil biological properties decide the fertility of the soil.

Sreenivasa et al. (2010) reported that the application of organic liquid manures were effective in significantly increasing microbial population and enzyme activity in chilli as compared to the application of RDF alone. The dehydrogenase activity has been reported to be involved in the respiratory chain of microorganisms and has often been used as a parameter to evaluate the overall microbial activity of soil (Serra-Wittling et al., 1995). The fact that various biochemical processes associated with nutrient recycling are mediated through soil enzymes which are derived from soil microbes and plant roots is again confirmed in this investigation (Table 6).

The biological oxidation of organic compounds is generally a dehydrogenation process and there are many types of dehydrogenases that catalyze dehydrogenation reaction and are highly specific in their activities. Unlike other enzymes, extra-cellular accumulation of dehydrogenases in the soil is not possible and therefore they are directly related to viability of intact cells. Hence, quantification of dehydrogenase activity has been recommended as a useful indicator of biological activity in soil (Schaffer, 1993). Significant increase in soil bacteria (18.16%) and fungi (48.00%) as compared to organic control observed in this investigation (Table 6) and count of actinomycetes (47.14%) correlates well with the activities of soil dehydrogenase and that of phosphatase (Table7).

Soil microbial count is a labile fraction of soil organic matter and at times it acts as source and sink for many plant nutrients. Upon addition of different combinations of homa ashes and organic material in to the soil, the microbial count was found to increase in this study from 30 to 60 DAP (Table 6). Such an increase in soil microbial count was also reported by Gaur (1990) as recorded at the harvest stage of the crop in this investigation (Table 6), which may be attributed to increased availability of nutrients all round the crop growth period due to addition of homa inputs. It may be appropriate to mention here that Agnihotra homa ash contains 97 per cent P2O5 and other nutrients (Potdar 1992). Although the beneficial role of bacteria in Biosol has become evident in this investigation, it was not possible to isolate and study certain beneficial bacteria from the Biosol preparation as reported by Sreenivasa et

al. (2009) in other organic liquid manures. It is, therefore, felt that it at the excellent prospects shown by Gloria Biosol. May be worthwhile to study characteristics of the microflora available in Gloria Biosol in future looking into its effectiveness in HOF.

It may, be worthwhile to explore role of Zn in the light of increased soil Zn content and enhanced activity of soil dehydrogenase observed in this investigation on treatment with homa ash. The results of Singaram and Kamalakumari (1995) lend support to the observations of this investigation on the activities of dehydrogenase and other enzymes that higher activities of dehydrogenase, urease and phosphatase were recorded in FYM treatment over inorganic treatment in a long term experiment on soil enzymes related to C, N, and P cycling. The studies of Kumari Namrata (2010) reveal that due to different homa treatments imposed in soybean 182-342 per cent increase in the activity of soil dehydrogenase was observed.

Zinc in its cationic form (Zn++

) has been reported to be an essential component of nearly 100 enzymes. A few among them are NAD

+ and NADP

+ linked dehydrogenases,

alcohol dehydrogenases, DNA and RNA polymerases, carbonic anhydrase and peptidase.

Several DNA-binding motifs have been described, one among them is Zinc finger. In Zinc finger, about 30 amino acid residues form an elongated loop held together at the base by a single Zn

++ ion which lends stability to DNA molecule (Nelson and Cox, 2005).

Significant increase in the activity of soil dehydrogenase was observed due to addition of organic manure and homa ashes in different combinations as compared with control and conventional practices (Table7). Kumari Namrata (2010) observed that dehydrogenase activity is one of the as useful indicators of biological activity in the soil which was proved in this study in the treatment where Agnihotra ash was used as seed treatment with Biosol as soil applicant. This clearly indicates that dehydrogenase activity is directly related to the viability of the intact cells. These findings are in consonance with the results of Schaffer (1993) who observed increase in the activity of dehydrogenase with addition of organic matter when compared with control.

Significant differences among the treatments observed in respect of different parameters studied in the present investigation may be attributed to the increased organic matter content of the soil. It may be remembered that the decomposition of added organic matter regulates growth of different groups of substrate-specific microorganisms at different stages of crop growth (Khani and More, 1984; Tangaswami, 1991 and Palekar, 2006). It, therefore, appears that the addition of organic matter and homa ashes might have increased the quantity of microbially decomposable humus in the soil which has a direct bearing on microbial environment and its fertility.

In the present investigation, four different homa products were used. Homa smoke alone was not found to be very effective. Non-homa ash also did not attract any special attention as compared to Agnihotra homa ash and Om Tryambakam homa ash. Gloria Biosol, a bio-digester specially prepared for this study has Agnihotra ash as one of the components. Due to soil and foliar application of Gloria Biosol, the fungal population increased by 48 per cent and that of actinomycetes by 47 per cent as against organic control T1 (Table 6). It’s score was top most when used in the soil and as foliar spray in the control of leaf spot and fruit borer (T10).

5.4 Effect of homa organic farming practices on quality of tomato crop

The novelty of organic sources lies in their supplying other essential nutrients like Zn, Mn, Cu, Fe etc., apart from major nutrients N, P and K. This has been reflected in the quality of tomato fruits in terms of acidity, TSS, total sugars, lycopene content, phenols and the shelf life (Tables 8 and 9). The fruits from Gloria Biosol treatment (T10) was top ranking in all these quality parameters except for shelf life where it secured second place. The next best treatment with respect to quality of the fruits was the application of Agnihotra homa ash (T6) with the next best rank in quality parameters studied, except phenols. Chinnaswami and Mariakulandai (1966) reported better quality tomato fruits with integration of organic and inorganic sources. Nevertheless, it is a known that the quality of the crop/produce is controlled by a complex interaction of factors, including soil type and ratio of minerals in added organic manure and fertilizers. As the number of minerals in added organic sources are too many (macro, micro and trace elements) as compared to fertilizers, the general claim that products produced by organic methods contain a better balance of vitamins and minerals (Ramesh et al., 2005) lends support to the results of the present investigation.

Bhujbal (1981) reported that Agnihotra atmosphere (only smoke) helped in raisin making from grapes. He observed that drying of grape bunches in Agnihotra atmosphere was completed in 21 days as against 300 days taken by normal practice and development of good taste took only 35 days.

Cow dung is rich in macro and micro nutrients which help in increasing nutrient content of the crop (Singh, 1996). Increase in the quality parameters observed in this investigation may be due to increased availability of major as well as minor nutrients, because major nutrients especially nitrogen and potassium play a vital role in enhancing quality of crops.

The phenolic compounds have been found to play an important role in determining resistance or susceptibility of a host to parasitic infection. A resistant variety may contain more phenolic than a susceptible variety (Rubin and Akesenova, 1957 and Raghunathan et al., 1958). For the realization of their protective action, phenolic compounds must be liberated from inactive forms, since it is precisely in the free state that polyphenols manifest the higher fungi and cytotoxicity (Friend, 1979).

Significant differences between the ash treatments, T4 (Non-homa ash) and Agnihotra homa ash (T6) and T4 and Om Tryambakam homa ash (T8) were observed in respect of quality parameters like ascorbic acid (18.72% and 5.2%), lycopene (27.87% and 17.54%), phenols (2.315 and 17.78%), total sugar (17.10% and 14.48%) and TSS (11.75% and 6.75%), respectively. The Non-homa ash treatment was not found to be effective when compared with Agnihotra homa and Om Tryambakam homa ashes in respect of quality parameters indicating thereby the efficacy of homa ash treatments.

Fanasco et al. (2006) reported that a high proportion of K in the nutrient solution increased quality attributes such as lycopene content. The least lycopene content was observed in the application of RDF in this study (Table 8). Caris-Veyrat et al. (2004) reported higher content of β-carotene and lycopene in tomatoes when cultivated under organic condition as compared to conventional farming. They attributed soil fertility differences to those measured in lycopene content.

In the present investigation, higher ascorbic acid content (49.05%), lycopene (40.69%), total sugars (9.68%) and TSS (10.2%) were observed with soil and foliar application of Biosol (T10) as compared to organics equivalent to RDF (Tables 8 and 9). These results confirm the findings of Balasubramani and Pappiah (1998) in bhendi; Thilakavathy and Ramaswamy (1999) in onions and Savanur (1999) in Paprika chillies. Increase in the quality parameters observed in this study may be attributed to increased availability of major as well as minor nutrients, because major nutrients especially nitrogen and potassium play a vital role in enhancing quality of crops. Nitrogen enters the protoplasm and thus enhances the quality attributes (Barooh and Ahmed, 1964).

5.5 Effect of homa farming practices on pest and diseases

The food choice of insects or pathogens is associated with a set of phytochemicals available in the plants. It seems that the tomato plants in plots T6, T8 and T10 had physiological and biochemical reactions that might have resulted in production of phytochemicals to make them less preferable to insects, pests and diseases. This could be evidenced from the fact that the incidence of fruit borer and tomato spotted wilt virus was low in T10 (40.17%) treatment. It is a fact that higher levels of synthetic fertilisers and pesticides increase crop susceptibility to pests and organic crops show tolerance to insect attack (Lotter et al., 1999).

The impact of soil and foliar application of Om Tryambakam homa ash in reducing the per cent incidence of fruit borer by 25.11 per cent (T8) against per cent reduction due to soil and foliar application of Agnihotra is a new finding and a very useful outcome of the present investigation. It may be noted that Agnihotra ash only is recommended for field trials in agriculture by Fivefold Path Mission volunteers.

It may be noted that the soil and foliar application of Agnihotra homa ash (T6), and Om Tryambakam homa ash (T8) reduced the per cent leaf spot (9.40 and 3.78 %, respectively) and fruit borer incidence (14.65%, 26.45%, respectively) as compared to soil and foliar application of Non-homa ash (T4) treatment.

It may be recalled here that Selvaraj et al. (2009) had reported that Agnihotra homa brought down the incidence of pests and diseases like powdery mildew in Rose by 34 per cent, leaf spot in Carnation, Gerbera and Cabbage by 20, 44 and 40 per cent, respectively, Fusarium wilt in Carnation by 32 per cent, in Gerbera by 63 per cent and late blight in potato by 75 per cent. These observations clearly indicate that Agnihotra homa provides higher disease resistance to plants. Kumari Namrata (2010) reported 16-29 per cent decrease in rust incidence and 18-43 per cent decrease in insect attack due to various homa treatments. She inferred that furrow application of homa ash was effective in increasing organic C and available P as compared to control without homa. Foliar application of Biosol was shown to be effective in control of rust, pod borer and caterpillar.

Further, Soil application of Biosol was effective in increasing the nodule count, nodule weight, number of pods, straw and grain yield from her studies.

Paranjape (1989) explained the plausible mechanism of action of homa. He said that when homa is performed in a garden or in a field, smoke goes to leaves and acts as a catalyst for the generation of chlorophyll in terms of biochemical reaction. Homa atmosphere acts as catalyst on the plant metabolism causing the plant to reach for nutrients it needs, necessitating in strength and yielding the nutrients, giving the plant health and allowing it to blend efficiently more with the ecological balance of the things. Homa helps to carry the nutrients equally throughout the plants by vascular system.

Flanagan (1989) also gave a physical explanation of de-polluting effect of Agnihotra. He stated that colloidal molecules of cow ghee and cow manure chelatingly attract and grab pollutants in the air, the way water is purified by being flocculated. The seized molecules settle on the ground and make the soil alkaline and when in contact with plant, stick to the leaves and act as time-released foliar nutrient. Due to use of ghee and manure, smoke becomes electrically charged. Homa technology has also been reported to work as climatic engineering (Hernandez and Macan, 2009).

The positive effects of ‘Homa therapy’ in agriculture, both in India and other countries have been well demonstrated by Bhujbal (1982), Davis (1983), Tung Ming (1987), Mishra (1987) and in 2009 by Bizberg, Garcia, Heschl, Hernandez and Macan, Ringma and Ringma, Johnson, Johnson and Heschl Rameshwar and co-workers, Mutalikdesai and Naik from Belgaum, Selvaraj and co-workers of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), Coimbatore and Kumari Namrata (2010) of the University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad.

It may be noted that organically grown fields also receive threats from pests and diseases. Although the natural predators take care of such threats, the organic farmer feels helpless and dejected when heavy infestation is air borne. The HOF, therefore, provides a solution to atmospheric pollution and air borne diseases, since homa in Vedic literature is considered as a process in the technology of Yajnya to heal the atmosphere, soil and water. Agnihotra is the basic homa in Vedic practices. Om Tryambakam homa and Vyhruti homa are additive yajnyas. In fact, best results in ‘Homa therapy’ are obtained when the fields are organically maintained (Selvaraj et al., 2009).

The excessive use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides in agriculture has received severe criticism from the environmentally conscious people who opined that increase in agricultural production was achieved at the cost of soil health (Cooke, 1982). The environmental degradation due to faulty agricultural practices has made several experts to focus their attention on ecologically sound, viable and sustainable farming system. There has been a series of scientific and policy conferences on this issue (Venkataraman, 1991) on developing such a system that will help to overcome problems of soil erosion and environmental pollution through organic farming which aims at cooperating rather than confronting with nature. Fukuoka of Japan, popularly known as father of natural farming opined that organic farming is the only answer to bring sustainability in agriculture in future (Fukuoka, 1988). On the similar lines, Gunjal (1991) expressed necessity of more comprehensive and analytical approach based on large volume of on-farm trial to examine the comparative feasibility of organic farming versus modern farming.

The observations of Biju (2001) had sent a right signal to all the concerned that the total reliance on insecticides for insect-pest control in most of the developing countries has resulted in certain ecological and economical imbalances with grave consequences to crop production, human health and environmental quality. He cautioned against a common practice among the farmers to increase the application of insecticides, if the desired control of a target pest is not achieved. Unfortunately, when the control becomes still inadequate, farmers switch over to another insecticide. This leads to resurgence of target pests. He opined that the widespread development of these man-made or entomologenic pest outbreaks is one of the most serious indictments of our present day pest control technology.

It may be noted here that Fivefold Path Mission, Dhule in Maharastra, India has come out with a modified version of Biosol known as Gloria Biosol (Weir, 2009). Its efficacy needs to be tested on different crops in view of the encouraging results obtained with Biosol used in soybean crop by (Kumari Namrata, 2010). It may be noted that composition used by her was different from Gloria Biosol used in this investigation in the sense that the amount of

Agnihotra homa ash was drastically reduced from 5 kg to 250 mg in 200 litres of Biosol. Fivefold Path Mission insists on keeping Agnihotra homa ash and Om Tryambakam Homa Ash separately. They further insist that only Agnihotra ash should be used in Agriculture. According to them Om Tryambakam homa ash may be added to compost or put directly in the field (Johnson and Heschl, 2009). It is, however, observed in this study that ash from Om Tryambakam homa was also effective though it was next to Agnihotra ash in its effectiveness.

Major studies on Homa farming have been seen to concentrate on the effect of Agnihotra ash on soil and water. It is evident form Table 10 that the homa atmosphere was found to reduce leaf spot incidence by about 31.51 per cent and reduce damage caused due to fruit borer by about 35.64 per cent when compared with the control (T2).

Although Agnihotra finds a reference in Yajurveda, Vedic literature lacks in any link of Agnihotra to agriculture (Johnson and Heschl, 2009). It, therefore, needs generation of data on the effect of ‘Homa therapy’ on agriculture, which is in progress at present all over the world with special reference to farmers in south America who have experienced the astonishing results of homa farming for prosperity in agriculture, personal health and to protect nature and support our planet at the same time (Hernandez and Macan, 2009).

The mechanism by which ‘Homa therapy’ clears pollution and creates healthy atmosphere is yet to be thoroughly studied through scientific experimentation. Shendye (2009) has put forth a hypothesis to explain the mechanism of homa action which needs documentary evidence (Berk and Johnson, 2009). It is possible that Glutathione and phytochelatins present in micro flora and in the plants remove pollutants through phyto-remediation. “At sun rise the many fires, electricities, ethers and more subtle energies emanating from the sun extend all the way to the earth and produce a flood effect at those coordinates where the sun is said to rise. It is awesome. The flood enlivens and purifies everything in its path, destroying what is impure in its wake. This torrent of life sustaining energies causes all life to rejoice. At sun rise that music can be heard. The morning Agnihotra Mantra is the essence of that music. It is the quintessential sound of that flood. At sun set the flood recedes”. It is, however, too early to comment authentically on such a mechanism of action operating through ‘Homa therapy’ due to lack of authentic scientific support.

All the species try to maintain balance in nature with each other. The so called dangerous pests are controlled by predators the friends of the farmer which appear automatically in a balanced environment (Mutalikdesai, 2009 and Naik, 2009). It goes without saying that chemicals destroy this fine balance in nature, whereas ‘Homa therapy’ encourages it. The observation of Tangaswami (1991) that organic farming yields were comparable to conventional agriculture holds good in case of HOF too when compared with conventional control studied in this investigation.In addition to different homa products used in this investigation, the role of Indegenous Technology Knowledge (ITK) products like butter milk (Gothi, 1996) and neem seed kernel extract, different Neemasthras, Agniastra, Brahmastra, Panchagavya, cow urine, neem oil, garlic-chilli kerosene extract and Biodynamic preparations reported to effective against pests and diseases and as growth stimulators reported by Patil et al. (2009) need to be studied in depth since they are eco-friendly may have additive effects to ‘Homa therapy’ and within the reach of poor farmer. Further, the centre for Indian knowledge systems (IKS), Chennai (Subhashini et al., 2006) has come out with a booklet which covers variety of IKS products for the growth and development and protection of different vegetables and fruits from pests and diseases. Since their approach is organic in nature, farmers may try these small experiments to consolidate their in organic farming techniques. Homa technique adds to ITK and IKS, an advantage of taking care of environmental pollution.

Agnihotra homa ash been has recognised in the entire world for the purification of atmosphere and as a boon to all the live forms. It’s application in Agriculture in the form of ‘Homa therapy’ is being tested everywhere in the globe. The effectiveness of different homas tried earlier have revealed that its effectiveness lasts hardly around 50 to 100 ft. To extend its area of influence, a Resonance point technique (RPT) has been introduced (Johnson and Heschl, 2009). The RPT system was tested in the present investigation with a good success rate. It is evident from data collected in this study that homa smoke alone was not effective in tomato cultivation. However, treatment given to the seedlings with the mixture of fresh cow dung and cow urine before transplanting produced better results with homa treatments over Non-homa treatments.

While establishing the effectiveness of RPT, 43 per cent increase in the lycopene and 49 per cent increase in ascorbic acid content was observed (Table 8). Although increase in the phenol content of tomato fruit was found to be only 7 per cent in this study, the decrease in the incidence of leaf spot (37%) and insect attack (40%) is worth mentioning here as the soil fertility is dependent on the increase in the soil macro (N-74%, P-40% and K- 31%) and micro (Cu-28 %, Zn-15%, Mn-29% and Fe-15%) nutrient status, increase in the soil dehydrogenase (5-52%) and phosphatase (2-34%) activities and increase in the soil micro flora (Bacteria-18%, fungi-48% and actinomycetes-47%) over organic control. It may be remembered here that due to incorporation of Biosol and homa ash, these changes were observed. The results of this investigation, therefore lend support to the observations of Kumari Namrata (2010) who worked with homa ash and Biosol in soybean crop at UAS, Dharwad.

Singaram and Kamalakumari (1995) reported that activities of six - soil enzymes related to cycling carbon (amylase and cellulase) nitrogen (dehydrogenase and urease), phosphate (phosphatase and phosphorylase) and catalase were found to be maximum in the treatment that received FYM.

All these factors point out towards a fact that homa organic farming is good for the health of soil, micro flora and fauna, crop growth and its health and helpful to the farming community with the greatest advantage that the land they cultivate can be saved from the bad effects of chemicals, economically sound technique and protect health of the farmer and his family. It may be noted here that 11 farmers in the Dharwad, Belgaum and adjacent district of Maharastra are making use of the RPT in their fields since past one year and some have adopted this technique successfully about 8-10 years back

Rao et al. (1997) reported that application of Glomu fasciculatum with caster cake @ 500 g and 400 g m

-2, respectively in tomato recorded highest seedling weight and less

number of galls in nematode infected soils.

Organic farming is a ray of hope for the farmers especially after they have burnt their fingers in chemical farming over a long period of six decades. They have now realised the importance of self-reliance and dependence on nature and eco-friendly methods in agriculture. Farmers are now eager to learn more about such safe techniques which will restore their confidence in agricultural practices. Though the pace of adopting Vedic agricultural practices is slow, it is getting momentum and showing improvement day by day. It has been attracting farmers, not only small land holders but big land lords also doing chemical farming towards organic farming methods because of its safe nature. The interest in HOF has also been slowly catching up not only in India but also in other countries due to its advantages over organic farming (Selvaraj et al., 2009). Since farmers believe and follow University research, an attempt has been made here to try HOF in a local variety of tomato (Var. DMT-2) in the form of a small research project in the PG programme of this department. It is, in fact, second of its kind. The first one was the work on soybean (Kumari Namrata, 2010) which has been discussed earlier in this dissertation. It is felt at this juncture that many aspects untouched in this dissertation may be undertaken for further research in the field of a promising zero technological approach called ‘Homa therapy’ and to clear doubts arising in the minds of scientist and farmers. Misconceptions like ‘HOF can not produce enough to feed masses’ have to be answered in a befitting manner taking clues from the works of FFPM volunteers (Heschl, 2009 and Selvaraj et al.,(2009).

Future line of work

1. There is need to study different quality parameters like pH, acid ratio, pericarp thickness in tomato as influenced by Agnihotra homa ash, Om Tryambakam homa ash and Gloria Biosol. In addition, variation of nutrients in the soil through incorporation of Agnihotra homa ash, Om Tryambakam homa ash and Biosol throughout the crop growth period need further exploration.

2. There is a need to study combination of different organic liquid manures like Panchagavya, Jeevamrutha, Beejamrutha and other Biodigester with Agnihotra homa ash, Om Tryambakam homa ash and Gloria Biosol and study the nutrient composition and effect on biological, physical and chemical properties of soil.

3. Indiscriminate use of homa ash and Gloria Biosol may be harmful to seeds, seedlings and plants. Hence, it is necessary to work out and standardise the quantity to be used for tomato as well as other crops.

4. A study to optimise appropriate combinations of organics, homa ash and Gloria Biosol for higher yield and better quality of tomato fruits and also other vegetables may be undertaken.

5. There is a need to standardise the dose of Gloria Biosol and homa ash-water spray schedule on large scale at different growth stages of tomato and other crops to reduce incidence of various pests and diseases.

6. The characterization of different types of bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes and their growth and development may be studied in depth under homa treatments. Particularly, fungi and bacteria in Gloria Biosol useful to different cropping systems may be studied in future.

7. Different combinations of material from Indigenous Technology Knowledge (ITK) and Indian Knowledge System (IKS) with ‘Homa therapy’ products may be initiated since integrated approach may be much more beneficial in combating various pests and diseases.

8. In light of the antipollution effect of Agnihotra, gases emerging out of different homas may be analysed in future.

6. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

An attempt was made to study the effect of Homa organic farming (HOF) on tomato (Va. DMT-2) during kharif 2010, in the C-block of Institute of Organic Farming at UAS, Dharwad, whereas in G-block conventional control was maintained about -1 km away from Homa site. Efforts were made to find out the effect on various parameters like growth, yield, quality of produce and chemical and biochemical soil characteristics. The salient features of the study are as follows:

1. Homa smoke alone was not very effective in tomato cultivation. Fresh cow urine and cow dung treatment to the tomato seedlings gave better results over Non-homa treatments.

2. Morphological characters like plant height, number of branches, number of leaves were enhanced due to different homa treatments as compared to organic control.

3. The tomato yield (kg/ha) registered 43 per cent increase as compared to organic control due to soil and foliar application of a special bio-digester called Gloria Biosol.

4 Soil and foliar application of Gloria Biosol increased soil macronutrients (N -74 % and K-31 %) and micronutrients (Cu - 28 % and Mn - 29 %) as compared to organic control.

5 The soil and foliar application of Agnihotra homa ash increased soil P by 40 per cent and soil Zn and Fe content by about 15 per cent each as compared to organic control.

6 The soil and foliar application of Biosol registered increase in the population of bacteria, fungi and Actinomycetes by 18, 48, and 47 per cent, respectively.

7 Increase in the activities of soil dehydrogenase (5-52 %) and phosphatase (2- 34 %) due to different homa treatments as compared with organic control was observed.

8. Increase in quality parameters like ascorbic acid (49%), lycopene (40%), phenols (7%) and TSS (10%) was found due to soil and foliar application of Gloria Biosol as compared to organic control.

9. Decrease in the incidence of leaf spot (37%) and insect attack (40%) was observed as compared with Gloria Biosol and organic control due to different homa treatments.

10. Soil and foliar application of Gloria Biosol was more effective than its foliar application alone in improving growth and yield parameters like soil biological activity, macro and micronutrients like N, K, Cu, Mn and quality parameters like ascorbic acid, lycopene, phenols, total sugars and TSS.

11. Soil and foliar application of Agnihotra homa ash was effective in increasing shelf life of the tomato fruits by 7-12 days.

12. It may be concluded from the present study that Homa organic farming practices not only heal the atmosphere by lowering pest and disease attack but also take care of health of the soil, plants and their produce.

13. Future line of work has been suggested.

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Appendix – I: Mantras Used in ‘Homa Therapy’

Agnihotra homa mantra

Agnihotra mantras generate relaxing and purifying effect on the mind. They create

vibration of peace and love and positively manipulate our mind and atmosphere. There are

two mantras in the morning at sun rise and two mantras in the evening at sun set.

At sun rise

Sooryaya swaha, sooryaya idam na mama| Prajapataye swaha, prajapataye idam na mama || At sun set

Agnaye swaha, agnaye idam na mama | Prajapataye swaha, prajapataye idam na mama ||

These Mantras in Sanskrit are ordained by the Vedas. All the alphabets of the

Sanskrit language are endowed with special vibrational powers. Their utterance in esoteric

combination produces unique sound waves of magnificent vibrations. These vibration sound

waves are powerful beyond imagination. Agnihotra mantras are to be uttered in such

rhythmically balanced tone that the sound vibrates in their entire household. It should not be

harshly loud or too weak nor it should be uttered in hurry. The mantras should be chanted in

clear, magnifying and scintillating voice. The words ‘Soorya’, ‘Agni’ and ‘Prajapati’ i.e. Brahma

in the mantras are synonyms of the Almighty. The feeling of total surrender is developed

through the utterance of these mantras.

Om Tryambakam homa mantra

Om Tryambakam yajamahe | sugandhim pushti-vardhanam|| urvarukamiva bandhanan | mrutyor mukshiya mamritat ||

It is important to understand the mantra in order to develop faith in it. The individual

words of the mantra convey its nourishing quality and, even in English, they are life

sustaining. They fill us with the sense that a great force of goodness is at work within us,

supporting our growth, lifting us up during times of trouble and helping us recall, even in the

midst of our busy lives, the higher aim of life itself.

Om we worship and adore you, O three-eyed one, O Shiva. You are sweet gladness,

the fragrance of life, who nourished us, restores our health, and causes us to thrive. As, in

due time, the stem of the cucumber weakens, and the gourd is freed from the vine, so free us

from attachment and death and do not withhold immortality.

Appendix -II : Special terms used in this investigation

Fivefold Path : Five basic principles for happy living – Agnihotra (Yajnya), Daan, Tapa, Karma and Swadhyaya.

Fivefold Path Mission

: It is an NGO working on the principle of Fivefold Path in India and abroad with its HQ at Tapovan, Dhule in Maharashtra.

Homa : It is a process in the technology of yajnya given through Vedas to heal the atmosphere, soil and water.

Yajnya : This is a technical term from the Vedic Science of Bio-energy denoting the process of removing toxins from the atmosphere through the agency of fire.

Vyahruti Homa : This is a yajnya which can be performed at any time of the day or night, except at the specified times of Agnihotra.

Agnihotra Homa : This is a small fire prepared in a copper semi-pyramid attuned to the bio-rhythm of sunrise/sunset. This Ayurvedic process purifies the atmosphere, gives nutrition to the plant kingdom and eradicates diseases.

Om Tryambakam Homa

: This is a specific Homa in which one mantra is repeated continuously. At the end of the mantra, a small spoonful of cow’s ghee is offered to the fire. This homa can be repeated up to 24 h by people taking turns.

Shree Yantram : A special geometrical design made of copper that attracts healing energies of the cosmos.

Gir cow : An indigenous cow from Rajasthan.

Ayurveda : It is an ancient most science of medicine given through Vedas. Literally it means Science of life.

Purush Sookta : A set of mantras denoting song of creation, which has great vibrational healing power.

Homa Pyramid

: A copper vessel of specific size used for performing all types of yajnya of yajnya in Homa Therapy. It’s also called as semi-pyramid since its bottom is not sharp as that of pyramid bottom

ITK : Indigenous technology knowledge.

IKS : Indian knowledge system

Appendix III:

S U N R I S E A N D S U N S E T T I M I N G S

2 0 1 0

Timings/ Longitude 74.984451° (10-mode)/ Latitude 15.504167° (10-mode)

Year=2010/ Time Zone =5.500/ Town= AGRI. UNI.DHARWAD

July August September October November December

SR SS SR SS SR SS SR SS SR SS SR SS

1. 60637 70105 61540 65702 62054 63913 62321 61607 62957 55713 64421 55333

2. 60654 70111 61555 65639 62059 63829 62327 61522 63017 55648 64454 55344

3. 60713 70116 61609 65615 62104 63745 62334 61436 63040 55625 64529 55357

4. 60730 70119 61623 65550 62109 63701 62341 61352 63103 55604 64604 55408

5. 60746 70124 61637 65524 62115 63616 62348 61308 63125 55543 64639 55424

6. 60805 70126 61651 65457 62121 63531 62357 61224 63150 55524 64713 55440

7. 60823 70128 61704 65431 62125 63444 62405 61142 63215 55506 64748 55456

8. 60840 70128 61718 65403 62130 63400 62413 61059 63238 55449 64823 55513

9. 60860 70128 61730 65333 62135 63314 62423 61018 63304 55433 64857 55534

10. 60918 70128 61743 65303 62138 63227 62432 60935 63330 55417 64933 55552

July August September October November December

11. 60937 70125 61756 65233 62144 63141 62441 60855 63357 55403 65006 55613

12. 60955 70121 61807 65203 62149 63055 62452 60814 63423 55352 65041 55634

13. 61012 70118 61818 65130 62152 63008 62501 60734 63451 55338 65116 55657

14. 61033 70114 61830 65058 62157 62922 62513 60655 63520 55329 65148 55722

15. 61050 70107 61839 65023 62202 62833 62525 60615 63548 55319 65221 55746

16. 61109 70102 61850 64950 62205 62747 62536 60538 63617 55310 65254 55811

17. 61127 70053 61901 64913 62210 62700 62549 60499 63646 55303 65327 55837

18. 61146 70044 61909 64839 62215 62612 62601 60424 63717 55259 65359 55905

19. 61203 70035 61920 64803 62218 62525 62615 60347 63748 55252 65431 55930

20. 61222 70025 61929 64724 62223 62437 62629 60312 63817 55249 65501 60000

July August September October November December

21. 61240 70013 61937 64647 62227 62350 62642 60237 63849 55249 65531 60030

22. 61256 70000 61945 64608 62231 62303 62658 60203 63921 55247 65601 60058

23. 61314 65946 61954 64529 62237 62217 62713 60130 63953 55247 65631 60128

24. 61331 65932 62001 64449 62243 62129 62729 60058 64025 55249 65700 60200

25. 61349 65916 62008 64410 62245 62043 62745 60027 64058 55251 65729 60231

26. 61405 65860 62016 64328 62251 61956 62803 55956 64130 55254 65757 60305

27. 61422 65842 62022 64246 62258 61910 62821 55926 64204 55301 65822 60337

28. 61437 65823 62029 64206 62303 61823 62838 55858 64238 55305 65849 60410

29. 61453 65805 62036 64123 62308 61737 62858 55830 64311 55314 65914 60443

30. 61510 65744 62041 64041 62315 61653 62917 55802 64346 55324 65938 60519

31. 61525 65723 62047 63957 62937 55737 70002 60552

APPENDIX-IV

Appendix V: Gloria Biosol composition

Sl. No Material Quantity

1 Vermicompost 80 kg

2 Fresh cow dung 80 kg

4 Fresh Cow urine 10 l

5 Agnihotra ash 250 g

6 Shree yantram made of copper 1 unit

7 Water 200 l

This mixture was incubated for 30 days in an air tight plastic drum and later used as foliar spray and soil application with suitable dilutions

Appendix VI: Media Composition for Microbial Studie

Nutrient agar for enumeration of bacteria

Glucose 5.0 g

Peptone 5.0 g

Beef extract 3.0 g

Agar 15.0 g

Distilled water 1000 ml

pH 7.2

Martin’s Rose Bengal agar for enumeration of fungi

Glucose 10.0 g

Peptone 10.0 g

Magnesium sulphate 0.50 g

Rose Bengal 18.00 g

Agar 18.00 g

Distilled water 1000 ml

pH 7.00

Kuster’s agar for enumeration of actinomycetes

Starch 10.0 g

Casien hydrosylate 0.30 g

Potassium nitrate 2.00 g

Dipotassium hydrogen phosphate 2.00 g

Calcium carbonate 0.20 g

Ferrous sulphate 0.01 g

Agar 18.00 g

Distilled water 1000 ml

pH 7

RESPONSE OF TOMATO (Solanum lycopersicum L.) TO HOMA ORGANIC FARMING PRACTICES

BRUNDA R. 2011 DR. P. W. BASARKAR

MAJOR ADVISOR

ABSTRACT

A field experiment laid out in completely randomised block design with 11 treatments exposed to Homa atmosphere replicated thrice was conducted during kharif 2010 to study response of tomato (solanum lycopersicum L.) to homa organic farming practices. The conventional control (CC) and control without Homa (CWH) were maintained almost 1 km away. The soil type was sandy loamy. All the seedlings were grown on raised beds, transplanted after one month and were given fresh cow dung and cow urine as basal treatment except absolute control, CC and CWC. Non-homa ash was collected after burning the agricultural waste. Agnihotra homa (AH) was performed at sun rise and sun set and Om Tryambakam homa (OTH) was performed for 3-4 h daily during experimental period which yielded smoke and ash. A special bio-digester called Gloria Biosol was prepared which contained AH ash. The Non-homa ash, AH ash, OTH ash and Gloria Biosol were used for soil and foliar application. Soil and foliar application of Gloria Biosol was significantly superior over organic control in plant height, number leaves, number of branches, root length, yield attributes, microbial population in the soil, increase in the activities of soil dehydrogenase (5-52%) and soil phosphatase (2-34%), soil N and K and micronutrients, Cu and Mn and quality parameters like lycopene (40.69%), phenol (7.28%), ascorbic acid (49.05%), TSS (10.2%) and total sugar (9.68%) showed significant increase. Soil and foliar application of AH ash increased soil phosphorus and micronutrients, Zn and Fe. Shelf life of tomato fruits increased by 7-12 days due to different homa treatments as compared to organic and conventional control. Incidence of Leaf spot and insect attack was reduced significantly (37.2% - 40.17%, respectively) due to soil and foliar application of Gloria Biosol which was superior over homa ashes and control.