Abstract

Green manures are perhaps the most self-supporting manures in the tropics and are often claimed to be quite as effecient as Ammonium sulphate in rice production. This is of course, not surprising, seeing that they contain nearly 3-4% of nitrogen on dry weight basis, and a carbon/nitrogen ratio of about 10. The leafy portion in green manures is naturally richer in nitrogen content than the stems and the decomposition may be noted in two stages, with the leaves figuring in the first stage and stems in the second. Thus green manures serve as a mixture of a quickly efficacious, concentrated nitrogenous fertiliser similar to ammonium sulphate and a more slowly-acting manure similar to compost or cattle manure.

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