Permaculture is the growth of agricultural ecosystems in a self-sufficient and sustainable way. The word permaculture is referred to as permanent agriculture and later developed as permanent culture to achieve sustainable and regenerative systems. Permaculture is one such agroecological movement that is a promising alternative to industrial agriculture. Based on the idea of sustainable development, permaculture is for designing sustainable development for global ethic method. The permaculture design draws a non-fixed mode of design that is adaptable to the fields of application. The ethical requirement for this design is the preservation of the environment and diversity and community for individual and collective well-being.
For efficient use of ecological functions and ecosystem services, permaculture aims to optimize the interactions in the soil-plant system. The main principles are:
- To work manually to optimize plant densities.
- To input a significant amount of organic materials.
- Not to use pesticides or mineral fertilizer.
The transition to an environmentally and economically sustainable agriculture model is due to a limitation of conventional agriculture. The physiological properties of soil in permaculture and soil experiencing conventional agricultural practices was studied. Some of the findings of Permaculture are soil with organic carbon (OC) concentration has been measured. On the bulk soils, the major physiological properties were observed. The total concentration of OC and Nitrogen (N) was high in bulk soil. This is due to the highly significant inputs of manure and compost, there will be a high concentration of bioavailable nutrients such as Ca, Mg, K and P.
Permaculture practices largely increase nutrient bioavailability. Biodiversity loss, soil degradation and alternation of biochemical cycles or greenhouse gas emissions are all due to modern industrial agriculture. To avoid this permaculture design and agro-ecology came into existence. Agro-ecology is more focused on food production without damaging the resources and by using the best form of natural goods and services. Agro-ecosystem is quite similar to permaculture design, but in addition, permaculture provides principles to guide the design, implementation and maintenance of resilient agroecological systems.
Reference:
- Link- https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fenvs.2018.00116/full
- Link- https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13593-013-0181-6#Sec33