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Honey bee publish details |
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People's Knowledge |
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Managing livestock by-products in Iran: Mohammad Amiri Ardakani1 & Mohammad Hossein Emadi2 |
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Aimal Husbandry has been practiced in Iran for more than 9500 years (Hunter and Whitten, 1976). Over this period, Iranian stockbreeders have accumulated a lot of knowledge in this field. The authors have already compiled two books in on this subject (Amiri Ardakani and Emadi, 2003 & 2004).This paper discusses Iranian stockbreeders’ experiences in the area of post-production management of some livestock by-products such as manure, bone, horn, hoof, blood and fat.
Manure
Manure is considered to differ in their nature and properties depending on the animal, its food ration and nutrition quality. Since poultry manure is considered very strong, it is never used single.3 Manure of donkey, sheep , horse and mule are “warm” and cow’s manure is “cool”.
Fresh animal manure should not be used, because it produces worms and damages trees and their roots. When manure is allowed to decay, the weed seeds in the manure grow out and are killed. The larvae of the insects which might be surviving also die owing to high temperature and moisture.
Local people are very careful about the rate, time and pattern of usage. Pomegranate gardeners apply about 20 tons of manure per hectare of soil, before establishing gardens. Around 50 kgs of decomposed manure per hectare is used in vineyards (Amiri Ardakani and Emadi, 2002). In some areas, farmers graze live-stock directly on the fallow land, and pen the live-stock within the farm, or feed live-stock within arable farmlands. This method was widely prevalent in Northern Iran and some farmers also pay galesh shepherds and provide them food and water, in exchange for grazing their sheep on the farm.
Similar practices are common in several parts of India.
Providing Energy
In the North Western parts of Iran, they make a flat and sunlit dung chamber outside the house premises to keep their winter fuel. The chambers are burnt after two or three years as it is believed that the dung would be a good shelter for disease carrying insects.
Other Uses
Manure is also used singly or in combination with other substances to control pests and diseases in plants. Threshed bitter gourd (colocynth), vine wood ash and cow dung is used to kill aphids and mites. Some farmers leach their seeds in cow’s urine or gall, to protect them against terrestrial pests. Camel urine can be sprayed on clothes to kill moth. In some rural regions, the smoke produced by burning manure is used to repel stinging mosquitoes (Amiri Ardakani & Emadi, 2002).
Dung is also used in the treatment of human diseases. In some villages of Sepidan County, women utilized newly-born foal’s dung, referred to as “korari” and lactating donkey’s milk for the treatment of whooping cough, referred to as “seh koffa”.
In some villages, Kuhgiluyeh and Boyerahmad provinces, they use dung for plastering a special type of silo, “lup”4. It is also used for making bricks.
In the medieval ages, bowls made of cow’s dung were used for cultivation to shorten the ripening period of summer crops (Heravi, 1977, p 249). In some western Iranian areas, they make vessels of different shapes and sizes, locally referred to as “kelareh” or carrying garbage and feed stuff.
In Orissa, cow dung is mixed with ash and applied over mud pots. It helps in keeping food fresh during the summers (HB 16 (2), 2005)
Bones
Farmers bury animal bones, both livestock and flock, in the soil, to fertilize it. Some farmers in Neiriz and Estahban in Fars Province, burn animal bones in different parts of the orchard when fig trees start fruiting, to fumigate the trees. Farmers of Bavanat in Fars Province follow the same practice in cucumber farms, at blooming and fruiting time.
Horn and Hoof
Gardeners of Meybod, when preparing the land for making a garden, apply a mixture, which includes bones, horns and “kowshak” (accumulation of sheep’s hoof and trotters) to the soil as the initial fertilizer.
In Iranian traditional medicine, cow’s horn and some of its by-products, are used for deworming. Dry cow horn is taken with honey to control joint worms (Ali Aghai and Mir Nezami Ziabari, 1999, p 102) .
Blood
In Meymandinezhad’s words, during the Parthian era, Iranian interred their swords in a shield filled with the blood of wolf, hog, bull and ram, when concluding peace treaties. (Olfati, 1995, p 661).
Farmers use the waste materials of the slaughtered live stock, including blood and excretion, to fertilize the soil. In most of rural areas, after slaughtering and skinning the livestock, they bury rumen and other remaining entrails like testes and spleen, in gardens as they are not permitted to be used as a food.
References
1 Aghai, M. and Mir Nezami Ziabari, H. (1999), Honey-Therapy; Honey and its products (Honey, pollen, royal jelly and their properties), Tehran: Nourpardazan.
2 Amiri Ardakani, M. and Emadi M. H. (2004), Application of Indigenous Knowledge in Animal Health; Ethno-veterinary Medicine , Tehran, Bureau for the Studies and Programming, Deputy of Extension and Farming System, Ministry of Agricultural Jihad.
3 Amiri Ardakani, M. and Emadi M. H. (2003), Indigenous Knowledge and Animal Husbandry; Iranian Practices, Tehran, Bureau for the Studies and Programming, Deputy of Extension and Farming System, Ministry of Agricultural Jihad.
4 Amiri Ardakani, M. and Emadi M. H. (2002), Indigenous Knowledge and plant Protection; Lessons and Examples, Tehran, Bureau for the Studies and Programming, Deputy of Extension and Farming System, Ministry of Agricultural Jihad.
5 Emami, L. (2001), What are different kinds of Citrus Fruits Fertilizers, Keshavaerz Monthly, Issue 256, Apr., 22nd Year, pp 52-53.
6 Heravi, Gh. (1977), Ershad-ul-Zira’a Compiled by Moshiri, M, Tehran, Amirkabir Publications, pp 249.
7 Hunter, D. and Whitten. (1976). Encyclopedia of Anthropology, New York: Harper &Row, p. 131.
8 Olfati, H. (1995), A History of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry in Iran, (V1), Tehran: Amirkabir Publications pp 661.. |
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| Volume No. |
Honey Bee, 16(4):6-7, 2005 |
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