In agriculture, a green manure is a crop specifically cultivated to be incorporated into the soil while still green. Typically, the green manure's biomass is incorporated with a plow or disk, as is often done with (brown) manure. The primary goal is to add organic matter to the soil for its benefits. Green manuring is often used with legume crops to add nitrogen to the soil for following crops, especially in organic farming, but is also used in conventional farming.
A field of clover, a green manure crop
Manure is organic matter that is used as organic fertilizer in agriculture. Most manure consists of animal feces; other sources include compost and green manure. Manures contribute to the fertility of soil by adding organic matter and nutrients, such as nitrogen, that are utilised by bacteria, fungi and other organisms in the soil. Higher organisms then feed on the fungi and bacteria in a chain of life that comprises the soil food web.
Animal manure is often a mixture of animal feces and bedding straw, as in this example from a stable.
Concrete reservoirs, one new, and one containing cow manure mixed with water. This is common in rural Hainan Province, China.
Compost containing turkey manure and wood chips from bedding material is dried and then applied to pastures for fertilizer.
Pile of animal manure on a wall.
