Organic Fertilizers Commonly Applied to Grow Healthy Organic Rice

Rather than recording feats of success in using natural resources, some common agricultural practices led to unsustainable agro-ecosystems and environmental crises with negative impacts on both human and animal health as a result of relying on artificial inputs as well as chemical fertilizers and pesticides. This is while food safety and agricultural product quality are major concerns among many middle class and high-income people in most parts of the world. Organic farming is an improved agricultural production method basically founded on no chemical input. According to the statistics released by FAO, the area under rice cultivation in Iran amounted to 556,787 ha in 2016, a large part of which has the potential to grow healthy and organic crops if low-input or non-input methods are employed. Study has shown that the use of chemical fertilizers may be reduced or balanced by applying to paddy fields any of the following either alone or in combination with chemical fertilizers: 2.5 to 20 t/ha of poultry manure, 5 to 20 t/ha of bovine manure, 10 to 40 t/ha of sheep manure, 20 t/ha of green manure, 5 to 10 t/ha of Azolla compost, or 5 t/ha of Ricestraw compost. Application of organic fertilizers seems not only to improve soil physicochemical properties but also significantly reduce (by 70 to more than 90%) the amount of chemical fertilizers used, thereby contributing positively to sustainable rice production.