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ANIMAL
ENERGY IN VILLAGE ECOSYSTEM
A CASE STUDY -
R. C. Maheshwari
Project Coordinator,
AICRP on Renewable Energy Sources Central Institute of
Agricultural Engineering, Bhopal 462018 (M. P.)
ABSTRACT
This paper deals with
the animal energy flow in a village ecosystem, both with
regards to its needs and supply. The animal system is
able to generate so much energy that it can cope with
37.2% domestic energy needs, 17. 7% energy requirement
for agricultural production and supplies 12.74% of food
energy. The introduction of biogas technology can meet N
P K requirement by 46, 22 and 23%. respectively, to make
the village "elf-reliant in pulse and oilseed
production which are presently in shortage by 23 and 72
percent, respectively. The animal conversion efficiency
works aut to be 53% as compared to O.55%for human
beings.
INTRODUCTION
Both man and animal
interact with soil, water, air and plant life to harness
solar energy for their sustenance as represented in Fig
1. Both at micro and macro levels, there is energy and
material balance in the ecosystem. Solar energy is used
by green plants to synthesise organic compounds such as
starch, sugar, cellulose and lignin. The annual
utilization of solar radiation by earth’s plant life
varies between 0.1 -0.3 percent. Out of the estimated
total solar radiation of 29.96 x 1011 MJ (8.34 x 1011
kWh) received on the earth's surface annually, the
vegetation utilizes 32 x 1014 MJ (8.9 x 1014 kWh) of
energy to synthesise 1.785 x 1011 metric tonnes of
carbon in the plants through photosynthesis (Pandya
& Maheshwari; 1980). As per the ENERGY CENSUS of the
Village Islamnagar carried out by the CIAE,
Bhopal(Maheshwari, et al, 1981 ), the utilization of
solar energy and its flow in the village ecosystem is
illustrated in Fig 2. Out of the 46.6 x 103 T J of solar
energy received by the geographical area (719.04 ha) of
the village, only 40.44 T J is converted into food, feed
and fuel thereby amounting to photosynthetic efficiency
of 0,073 percent which is about half of the world's
average of 0, 16 percent.
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