Its important to remember hygiene rules when handling cow dung. Asian J Agric Res 4:148154, Orji FA, Ibiere AA, Dike EN (2012) Laboratory scale bioremediation of petroleum hydrocarbon polluted mangrove swamp in the Niger Delta using cow dung. 2003; Barroso et al. Interesting to learn more about utilizing this by-product as various cultures have for centuries. J Colloid Interf Sci 278:18, Fick J, Sderstrm H, Lindberg RH, Chau DNP, Tysklind M, Larsson DGJ (2009) Contamination of surface, ground, and drinking water from pharmaceutical production. Faith Reaper from southern USA on August 02, 2014: No wonder the pastures across from my home are so verdant and plush, and really beautiful as they are rolling hills instead of flat. I appreciate the votes and the share, too. 2013). DUNG! Toxic chemicals find their way into the human body, plant tissue and animals through absorption (Adams et al. Indian J Microbiol 54:413418, Rana G, Mandal T, Mandal NK (2014) Generation of high calorific fuel gas by photosynthetic bacteria isolated from cow dung. I always use it as a fertilizer in my garden, but then it has to be well-sweated - a process that kills the seeds of grass and other plants in the dung. It also contains 24 different minerals like nitrogen, potassium, along with trace amount of sulphur, iron, magnesium, copper, cobalt and manganese. Pol J Microbiol 55:289296, Swain MR, Laxminarayana K, Ray RC (2012) Phosphorus solubilization by thermotolerant Bacillus subtilis isolated from cow dung microflora. 1. I want to ask a question related to this. This porous carbon is synthesised by many different methods such as using silica or surfactant, aerogels, organometallic compounds, chemical activation and physical activation. Bioresour Technol 87:147153, Kessler R (2010) Pharmaceutical factories as a source of drugs in water. Mixing a shovel full of manure with my vegie debris and clippings and then watering helped break down the materials much more quickly. John R Wilsdon from Superior, Arizona on September 27, 2014: I am reminded that cow dung, or manure, is also a great starter for compost. can be mutated with NTG to increase the cellulase production from 9.4 to 16.3 U/mg proteins. However, still there is a continuous search for the potential microorganisms that are able to synthesise industrially feasible enzymes and microbial diversity of cow dung makes it a potential source for the said purpose (Dowd et al. In India, cow is considered mother and its is very pure used for many purposes. It would be so valuable to use this waste product for new fuel resources. This energy is a good potential to meet the existing and future energy demands in rural areas. I appreciate your visit. These reports suggest that cow dung may serve as a promising untapped source containing microorganisms, which hopefully may be connected to novel antimicrobial metabolites. United States energy information administration, N-methyl-N However, overuse and misuse of these antimicrobial agents have resulted in the development of resistance amongst pathogens (Aly et al. This condition is not only in India but also in China, U.S. and European countries as discharge of pharmaceuticals is also reported from these regions (Babic et al. How to analyse compounds like nitrogen.pottasium.sulphur.etc etc in cow dung n can you explian the composition of cow dung. Cows avoid eating their own dung, so how are the fungal spores going to get into another cow's digestive tract to complete their life cycle? The uses of cow dung are interesting. Yes, cow dung is a wonderful resource. Cow dung contains diverse group of microorganisms such as Acinetobacter, Bacillus, Pseudomonas, Serratia and Alcaligenes spp. archer10, via flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0 License. It is affordable, at the same time it prevents land degradation also due to excessive use of chemical fertilizers and maintains soil fertility. You've explained it in such a way to be understandable and educational. Int J Cow Sci 1:125, Dhama K, Rathore R, Chauhan RS, Tomar S (2005b) Panchgavya: an overview. Perhaps an agricultural college in your area would know of a suitable lab. Two bacteria namely Pseudomonas plecoglossicida and Pseudomonas aeruginosa present in microbial consortium have also been detected to completely degrade hazardous chemicals like cypermethrin and chlorpyrifos (Fulekar and Geetha 2008; Boricha and Fulekar 2009; Randhawa and Kullar 2011). Teo and Teoh (2011) detected several cow dung isolates producing enzymes like protease, lipase and esterase lipase. Plant Soil 287:6975, Rook GAW, Stanford JL (1988) Immunotherapeutic composition of killed cells from mycobacterium vaccae. If you can't get a professional's advice, don't use the dung. A cow chip throwing contest is much like it sounds. Sawant et al. US patent 4724144. 2005a ). The gas can be used to cook food and heat water in a boiler. Soil is the prominent source from where hundreds of antibiotic-producing organisms have been isolated during the last five decades (Khamna et al. The Many Uses of Cow Dung: A Natural and Renewable Resource. Thank you very much for the visit and the comment, Peg. At this point a problem arises. Recently, central nervous system action of panchgavya on spontaneous motor activity, muscle tone and pain has been determined in albino rats (Paliwal et al. People in Indian villages use cow dung for cooking purpose by direct burning. I'm not sure that the chemical has been identified. Thank you very much for the comment and vote, Faith. (1) production of biogas, which was used . By using this website, you agree to our Dung also provides great food for earthworms! The McGraw-Hill Higher Education, New York, Williams KH, Bargar JR, Lloyd JR, Lovley DR (2013) Bioremediation of uranium-contaminated groundwater: a systems approach to subsurface biogeochemistry. Some people make cow dung paper as a hobby. Chem Sus Chem 6:23302339, Illavarasi S (2014) Isolation and identification of cellulase producing bacteria from cow dung. Cow dung is the major source of biogas or gobar gas production in India. lol! Answer: Ive never used one, but I imagine the aim is to cook food with energy from a renewable and easily obtainable fuel (cow dung). Utilization of cow dung residues of biogas plant for sustainable I appreciate it. Mary Craig from New York on August 21, 2014: As a city girl, well I grew up there anyway, I had no idea how useful cow dung could be. Linda Crampton (author) from British Columbia, Canada on August 17, 2014: Thank you, Vellur. As I say in the article, biogas produced from cow dung generally contains methane. The organic carbon of the soil after treatment with this combination was found to be significantly increased from 1.33 to 3.21%. Privacy FlourishAnyway from USA on August 02, 2014: This was both educational and awesomely green in every sense of the word. So I was able to relate to what you wrote. 2007; Thomas et al. 1988), animal feed additives (Annison 1992) and in bread making (Maat et al. against fish and human pathogenic bacteria. India is the second largest producer of pesticides in Asia with annual production of 90,000 tons out of which 23% is utilised and the rest remain in soil causing environmental problems (WHO 1990; Randhawa and Kullar 2011). J Radioanal Nucl Chem 294:8186, Barroso CB, Pereira GT, Nahas E (2006) Solubilization of CaHPO4 and AlPO4 by Aspergillus niger in culture media with different carbon and nitrogen sources. statement and Biogas is also produced through anaerobic digestion of cow dung and other agricultural wastes (Elsayed et al. 2014; Ewusi-Mensah et al. 2002; Haritash and Kaushik 2009). Cows have also proved their importance in the field of Ayurveda as the dung and urine of cow has healing properties. I don't know about the health risks, but I would think it's important to carry out the cremation outdoors in a very open area with lots of air circulation. Thank you for the comment and for sharing the information, thewritingowl. 350mg of dry cow dung powder along with certain laboratory conditions such as pH 6, contact time of 10min and agitation speed of 4000rpm resulted in 8590% adsorption of strontium. Though cow dung is solely used as the prime source for biogas production, but research continues to verify the potential of other sources for instance, addition of pig dung was found to have an enhanced effect. 2020). National Commission on Agriculture 9. Linda Crampton (author) from British Columbia, Canada on August 22, 2014: Audrey Howitt from California on August 22, 2014: Linda Crampton (author) from British Columbia, Canada on August 21, 2014: Thank you very much for the comment and the votes, tillsontitan. Therefore, use of cow dung should be promoted in the field of agriculture. Great memories. Methane is a major greenhouse gas and contributes to global warming. in destruction of biomedical waste. The general process for making an anaerobic digester for cow dung starts with placing dung and water in an airtight container. Li et al. As the cows wander and graze, the spectators wait for a cow pie to be released (which gives a new meaning to the term "spectator sport"). Biogas produced from cow dung generally consists of methane, carbon dioxide, and other components, such as hydrogen sulphide. xylosus, Microbacterium Google Scholar, Adams GO, Tawari-Fufeyin P, Ehinomen I (2014) Laboratory scale bioremediation of soils from automobile mechanic workshops using cow dung. 2006). The spores have a tough coat and pass through the cow's digestive tract unharmed. /-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine, Abo-State MA, Mahdy HM, Ezzat SM, Abd El Shakour EH, El-Bahnasawy MA (2012) Antimicrobial resistance profiles of Enterobacteriaceae isolated from Rosetta Branch of River Nile, Egypt. Laukov et al. Yes, cow pies really are used as a source of entertainment! Biogas, a mixture of different gases produced by anaerobic fermentation of organic matter from methanogenic bacteria, mainly constitutes methane (5065%) and CO2 (2545%) (Sharma 2011). German 'Poo-caso' Uses Feces To Make Elaborate Paintings: 'Doesn't Springer Nature. Upsala J Med Sci 119:108112, Laukov A, Czikkov S, Vasilkov Z, Juris P, Marekov M (1998) Occurrence of bacteriocin production among environmental Enterococci. (2014). 2005a). Like most other fungi, the body of Pilobolus is made of thread-like structures known as hyphae. On the other hand, farmer also gains 13.87 metric tons of organic fertiliser per year from the biogas plant. Turk J Agric For 34:9199, Jain NK, Gupta VB, Garg R, Silawat N (2010) Efficacy of cow urine therapy on various cancer patients in Mandsaur District, Indiaa survey. Humans aren't the only ones to make use of cow dung. These metals destroy the growth and metabolism of cells, disrupt the respiratory tract and accumulate in internal organs such as lever, heart and kidneys. Appl Environ Microbiol 73:156163, Sharif MR, Alizargar J, Sharif A (2013) Antimicrobial resistance among Gram-negative bacteria isolated from different samples of patients admitted to a University hospital in Kashan, Iran. The material can be very useful, but since its animal waste it may contain pathogens. An age old sustainable tradition. Int J Biotechnol Bioeng Res 4:677686, Barot NS, Bagla HK (2012) Biosorption of radiotoxic 90Sr by green adsorbent: dry cow dung powder. We really do need to take advantage of it! Pilobolus, some bacteria, and some animals are decay organisms. Water Air Soil Pollut 225:1820, Haritash AK, Kaushik CP (2009) Biodegradation aspects of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs): a review. According to energy information administration (EIA), our dependency on imported fossil fuels has risen to 38% (USEIA 2014). Lifesci Leafl 55:6063, Singh D, Fulekar MH (2007) Bioremediation of phenol using microbial consortium in bioreactor. 2013; Illavarasi 2014). IDRC, Ottawa, p 129133, Kanwar SS, Guleri RL (1994) Performance evaluation of a family size rubber balloon biogas plant under hilly conditions. 2013). (MTCC10046) isolated from cow dung. Ministry of Agriculture Department of Animal Husbandry Dairying and Fisheries Krishi Bhawan, New Delhi, Lowry CA, Hollis JH, De Vries A, Pan B, Brunet LR, Hunt JRF, Lightman SL (2007) Identification of an immune-responsive mesolimbocortical serotonergic system: potential role in regulation of emotional behavior. Of course, we don't want all of that in our gardens. Will the use of cowdung lay a bad impact on the lower arrangements of sediments in my soak pit ??? Extensive use of chemical fertilisers is suggested for replenishment of nutritional deficiencies to increase crop yield. 2004). 2014). The natural ability of cow dung microflora to degrade hydrocarbons in soil contaminated with engine oil is recently being investigated by Adams et al. 3, 28 (2016). In India, 69.9% population resides in rural areas (The Hindu 2011), where cow (Bos indicus) is major cattle and generates 915kg dung/day (Werner et al. 2012; Williams et al. This review focuses on recent findings being made on cow dung that could be harnessed for usage in different areas such as medicine, agriculture and industry. Cow dung has antifungal substance that inhibits the growth of coprophilous fungi (Dhama et al. Linda Crampton (author) from British Columbia, Canada on August 08, 2014: Thanks for the comment, Bill I hope you have a wonderful weekend as well. The bacterial community in a cow's gut is different from the one is humans, so the smell of the dung is different. Rolling hills and pastures sound lovely! Linda Crampton (author) from British Columbia, Canada on August 09, 2014: Thank you very much, Deb. J Environ Sci Eng 50:239240, Passatore L, Rossetti S, Juwarkar AA, Massacci A (2014) Phytoremediation and bioremediation of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs): state of knowledge and research perspectives. If you want to add cow dung to the curtains, I suggest that you first place a small quantity of the dung on a small, inconspicuous part of the curtains in order to observe the results. There may be some value in this seemingly bizarre practice, as the FAO quote shown below suggests. Question: A cow shelter has around 50,000 cows, and produces around 300 tons of cow dung every day. Voted up. Composting has several benefits. Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst 73:89100, Wang L, Mu G, Tian C, Sun L, Zhou W, Yu P, Yin J, Fu H (2013) Porous graphitic carbon nanosheets derived from cornstalk biomass for advanced supercapacitors. In this study by Swain et al. I don't know if I could ever play this type of bingo without wearing gloves. 2005a). IUP J Life Sci 4:3444, Swain MC, Kar S, Padmaja G, Ray RC (2006) Partial characterisation and optimisation of production of extracellular -amylase from Bacillus subtilis isolated from culturable cow dung microflora. While cow dung may have disinfectant properties when applied to the wall or floor of a home, this hasnt been proved yet. Its effects on anxiety and learning power were also tested on the mice and it showed good results when the mice fed with live M. vaccae (Matthews and Jenks 2013). Yes, it is interesting that cow dung contains so much potential energy. The bacterial isolates involved in the process belonged to genera Pseudomonas, Bacillus, Citrobacter, Micrococcus, Vibrio, Flavobacterium and Corynebacterium, whilst fungal isolates were the species from Rhizopus, Aspergillus, Penicillium, Fusarium, Saccharomyces and Mucor. High amount of inorganic phosphates is added to soil but phosphorus ions are very reactive and most of the inorganic phosphorous is converted into insoluble phosphorous by immobilisation and chelation with metal ligands present in the soil, thereby becoming unavailable for plant uptake (Macias et al. 2013; Belanger et al. Chemosphere 91:869881, Aly MEA, Essam TM, Amin MA (2012) Antibiotic resistance profile of Escherichia coli strains isolated from clinical specimens and food samples in Egypt. The sporangium can move as fast as 35 feet a second, reach a height of 6 feet, and travel as far as 8 feet away. aeruginosa, Pseudomonas Hi, Devika. One isolated strain Enterococcus Int J Recycl Org Waste Agric 2:21, Yang DS, Bhattacharjya D, Inamdar S, Park J, Yu JS (2012) Phosphorus-doped ordered mesoporous carbons with different lengths as efficient metal-free electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction in alkaline media. Uttam Kumar Tamboli on November 25, 2018: I am working on a project of Low Cost Innovative Soak pit for community. If you're tempted to make your own mini anaerobic digester, as some people do, make sure that you follow the assembly instructions carefully. Systematic studies on the total viable counts (TVC) of bacteria along with nitrogen fixing bacteria in cow dung of different breeds of cattle (both indigenous and exotic), buffaloes and Churi. Cow dung is conventionally applied in Indian subcontinental agriculture to enhance soil fertility. Lett Appl Microbiol 60:140147, Sathasivam A, Muthuselvam M, Rajendran R (2010) Antimicrobial activities of cow urine distillate against some clinical pathogens. Is Cow Dung Acidic Or Alkaline? - Arew Excellent post. They have a lot of Black Angus cows here, but thankfully the smell is not bad at all due to they switch the cows out of the three different pastures that go behind my home. 2009; Hossain and Rahman 2014; Amin et al. 1998). California man sentenced to seven years in $9 million cow-poop Ponzi The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers to this website may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. World J Microbiol Biotechnol 23:11491159, Article (2007) have isolated many different bacterial genera such as Citrobacter koseri, Enterobacter aerogenes, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella oxytoca, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Kluyvera spp., Morgarella morganii, Pasteurella spp., Providencia alcaligenes, Providencia stuartii and Pseudomonas spp. Basically if you own a few cows not only will you have a source of meat and milk, but you will have fuel for your fire, be able to make bricks and fertilise your crops. Often, however, its too rich in certain chemicals and needs to be diluted or left to sit in the soil for a while before crops are planted. Martie Coetser from South Africa on August 03, 2014: Excellent article about cow dung and its many uses. Each square is identified with a number or letter. Linda Crampton (author) from British Columbia, Canada on July 28, 2019: This would likely depend on the chemical composition of the curtains and on how they interact with the chemicals in the dung. Voted useful and up! Linda Crampton (author) from British Columbia, Canada on July 16, 2019: Linda Crampton (author) from British Columbia, Canada on February 19, 2019: Thanks for the visit. (Vijayaraghavan and Vincent 2014). 2005a; Donovan 2008; Jain et al. The cow dung used as biochar was obtained from the animal section of the Teaching and Research Farm of Landmark University while the wood for the biochar was obtained from . Indian J Biotech 12:372378, Gounot AM (1986) Psychrophilic and psychrotrophic microorganisms. 2006; Stalin et al. 2015). 2008; Kiaune and Singhasemanon 2011; Madu et al. One member of xylanolytic bacteria Paenibacillus favisporus sp., from cow dung, was found to produce wide variety of hydrolytic enzymes such as xylanases, cellulases, amylases, gelatinase, urease and -galactosidase (Encarna et al. Google Scholar, Ali H, Khan E, Sajad M (2013) Phytoremediation of heavy metals-concepts and applications. Effects of cow dung and wood biochars and green manure on soil - Nature Aweeeesssooooommmeeeeee!!!!! It's therefore a bad idea to allow the raw dung to contact a wound or to come into contact with food, the mouth, or another body opening. beteli. Dependence of mankind on non-renewable source of energy such as coal, oil and gases is increasing worldwide. It sent me back to the Memory Lane. It's also used to make a biogas and paper and to play games. It is certainly evident that more detailed studies of cow dung are needed, as there is still a tremendous scope for research and development to reach up to the industrial scale production of antibiotics and enzymes. A person should seek the advice of an expert when creating a digester or before using it for the first time. Linda Crampton (author) from British Columbia, Canada on August 15, 2018: Thank you very much for the comment and for sharing your personal experience, Chitrangada. Peg Cole from North Dallas, Texas on August 02, 2014: This is so interesting. Interesting read. Energy Sources 26:707714, Kang BT, Juo ASR (1980) Management of low-activity clay soils in Tropical Africa for food crop production. The bricks are much lighter than conventional ones. 1994), production of ethanol from plant biomass (Lamed et al. Linda Crampton (author) from British Columbia, Canada on November 25, 2018: Hi, Uttam. Why the smell of cow dung is not bad as in the case of other animal or human ? Being a mixture of faeces and urine in the ratio of 3:1, it mainly consists of lignin, cellulose and hemicelluloses. The fertilizer, called Jeevamrutham, is made mixing 10 kg cow dung, 10 litres cow urine, two kg of jaggery, two kg of . 2007; Fick et al. The dung that enters the tunnel is their food source. These practices are adversely affecting the environment quality which is directly related to the quality of life on earth. William Leverne Smith from Hollister, MO on August 02, 2014: Back at the one-room country school in Iowa, cow patties made great bases. Linda Crampton (author) from British Columbia, Canada on April 19, 2017: Thank you, Gani. Batelle Press, Columbus, Bahadure S, Kalia R, Chavan R (2013) Comparative study of bioremediation of hydrocarbon fuels. The nitrogen in the ammonia is a good plant nutrient, but an excessive concentration of ammonia can damage plants. Mel Carriere from Snowbound and down in Northern Colorado on September 12, 2014: I come from a rather red-neckish family, and we used to have fun throwing cow patties at each other in the summertime, sort of like a snowball fight but in the heat. Strange as it may sound, in some cultures cow dung is applied to walls and floors as a disinfectant as well as an insulator. Biogasa boon for India. Terms and Conditions, In the light of above-discussed facts, biogas production can also be considered as an effective way of treating organic waste which may produce green house gases if remain untreated. Agriculture & Farming - Owlcation The collected cow dung is mixed with Panchgavya's formulation and composted for use as an organic fertilizer in agriculture. Argonne Natl Lab Environ Sci Division 133, Phillips PJ, Smith SG, Kolpin DW, Zaugg SD, Buxton HT, Furlong ET, Esposito K, Stinson B (2010) Pharmaceutical formulation facilities as sources of opioids and other pharmaceuticals to wastewater treatment plant effluents. Another useful application of cow dung microorganisms is in the treatment of biomedical and pharmaceutical waste (Randhawa and Kullar 2011). 2013). Answer: I have read proposals that this should be done as well as reports that people have actually used the dung to produce hot water. 2014). Mixture of cow and pig dung (60:40) showed 10% increase in methane production as investigated by Li et al. The total population of female cows in India is 190.90 million out of which 151 million are indigenous whilst 39 million are crossbreed (Livestock Census 2012). Your US state privacy rights, 2015). Good luck with your project. Agriculture is one of the most widespread activities in the world, but it is not uniform throughout. Who would have thought that a cow pie could teach us so much! Linda Crampton (author) from British Columbia, Canada on January 01, 2017: Hi, Sasanka Ghosh. One of these reasons is that the dung may contain a high concentration of ammonia. In addition, the cow pats give off methane, which acts as a greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. Depending on what pathogens (microbes that cause disease) it contains, it could be dangerous to use the dung either internally or externally. Suzanne Day from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia on August 10, 2014: A fascinating hub about the ins and outs (sorry for the pun!) 2010; Li et al. The synthesis of activated carbon having high surface area along with optimum micropore and mesopore volume reflects excellent electrochemical application of cow dung for supercapacitors. Ann Microbiol 64:407411, Maat J, Roza M, Verbakel J, Stam H, Santos de Silva MJ, Bosse M, Hessing JGM, Egmond MR, Hagemans MLD, Gorcom RFM (1992) Xylanases and their application in bakery. 2001). They live on every continent except Antarctica. Remediation of heavy metals is commonly done by electrolytic deposition, electrodialysis, electrochemical, evaporation, precipitation, ion exchange, reduction, reverse osmosis, filtration, adsorption, chemical precipitation and distillation (Mohapatra et al. Lowa state press, London, Buvaneswari S, Damodarkumar S, Murugesan S (2013) Bioremediation studies on sugar-mill effluent by selected fungal species. 2013). Quinton James from American Midwest on December 20, 2017: Very entertaining and educational Good job!