Brown manuring is the ‘no-till’ form of green manuring wherein a selective herbicide is applied to desiccate green manure crops before flowering rather than using cultivation (Das et al., 2021). The existing BM technique involves growing green manure crops preferably legumes with the main crop as a co-culture for the initial 25–30 days after sowing and thereafter desiccated by a selective herbicide. It is a ‘no-till’ version of green manuring, where the desiccated green manure crops are left standing in the field along with main crop without incorporation and is allowed to decompose itself in the soil. The desiccated leaves of green manure crops turn brown due to herbicide spray and hence the method is called brown manuring.
What is brown manuring?
