Cow Dung for Improving the Ecosystem of Soil and Cow Importance from Vedic Scriptures

Abstract

Now a day’s pollution is increasing rapidly whether it is related to land or it is related to soil, water and air. This is due to increase in industrial activities  in which some industries releases their waste without treating them and ultimately polluting the environment and if these pollutants pollutes the soil than it will be consumed by plants through roots which ultimately affects the members of ecosystem or environment and also due to use of chemical pesticides soil gets polluted and also these pollutants enter the plants through roots and ultimately affects the members of ecosystem and environment. So we have to search for better alternatives for chemical pesticides. Now as soil are polluted so we have to search for treatment which does not pollute the environment but also helpful to change some soil properties. In this research cow dung was used for treatment of polluted soil which was polluted by sulphuric acid. Due to addition of sulphuric acid pH of soil lowers down but with the addition of cow dung pH of soil increases which is good sign of treatment for soil. Now in case of leachate when it is acidic in nature it will further pollute the soil and groundwater by increasing the solubility of metal ions which are toxic in nature. Here ecosystem of soil consist of soil biology, soil fertility and soil physical properties. Soil biology consist of microorganism and macro organism like earthworm, etc which are responsible for improving the fertility of soil which are killed by the pollutants. Soil fertility consist of organic matter and humus which are minimised by the pollutants. Soil physical properties consist of textures and structure which are destroyed by pollutants. Hence the experimentation work performed with the cow dung and polluted soil shows that cow dung helps to improve the ecosystem of the soil. Hence when we mix cow dung with soil it will help to increase the Ph of soil as well as leachate, ultimately minimising the soil and groundwater pollution. The historical importance of Indian Cow from vedic scriptures and her effective utilization of panchgavya (mixture of urine, milk, ghee, curd and dung of Indian Cow) and individual products mentioned in various vedic book like Bhagwat Geeta, Mahabharat, Sant Tukaram Gatha was written by Sant Tukaram, who was a 17th-century poet-saint of the Bhakti movement in Maharashtra., The Dnyaneshwari is a commentary on the Bhagavad Gita written by the Marathi saint and poet Dnyaneshwar in the 13th century, etc were studied which was suggested by the known holly persons who were using cow dung as a medicine ,as a thermal insulator, as a plaster, flooring etc.