Journal of American Science 2012;8(1s) http://www.jofamericanscience.org http://www.jofamericanscience.org 43 editor@americanscience.org Agnihotra Ash Amended With Yellow Soil As The Growth Regulator For Zea Mays *Shailendra Sharma, *Taniya Sengupta, *Kapil Sunar, **Ulrich Berk, ***Vibha Dave, *Tushar Gandhi, **** Rajendra Chaurasia *Department of Biotechnology,Adarsh institute of Management & Science Dhamnod,(M.P.) **Deutsche, Gesellschaft fur HomaTherapie,Stockach,Germany. ***Department of Zoology, P.M.B.Gjarati Science College Indore- 452001, India ****Department of Zoology, Govt. Holkar Science College Indore- 452017, India Abstract: The main objective of the present work is to study the influence of Agnihotra ash on agriculture so as to develop a practical approach for enhancing the crop yield. The ash was obtained from the Homatherapy centre of Mandleshwar and the work had been carried in Biotechnology lab of Shri Umiya Girls College Mandleshwar. The study was done with plant Zea mays. A comparative study has been done by using Agnihotra ash and control ash. Yellow soil was amended with the ashes for the work. Yellow soil with Agnihotra ash gave the best result. The yellow soil alone gave the poorest result. Agnihotra ash increases the yield and the rate of growth by 20% as compared to the control ash and about 40% as compared to the soil alone. The application of the ash in agricultural field called as Homa farming will enhance good mean to give livelihood opportunity for small resource farmer. [Shailendra Sharma, Taniya Sengupta, Kapil Sunar, Ulrich Berk, Vibha Dave, Tushar Gandhi, Rajendra Chaurasia. Agnihotra Ash Amended With Yellow Soil As The Growth Regulator For Zea Mays. J Am Sci 2012;8(1s):43- 45]. (ISSN: 1545-1003). http://www.jofamericanscience.org . 7 Keywords: Agnihotra ash, Yellow soil, Homa Farming. Introduction Agnihotra is a sacred tradition started by the ‘Rishis’ of ancient India. It is now considered by some as the worship of the Lord Yajna Naarayana. ‘Agnihotra’ then means worshipping the Lord Vishnu. Agnihotra (Homa) consists of making two offerings to the fire exactly at the time of sunrise & sunset along with two small Sanskrit mantras. The offerings consist of two pinchfuls of uncooked rice grains smeared with a few drops of cow's pure ghee (clarified butter). The fire is prepared out of dried cow dung cakes in a small copper pot. First, a small piece of the cow dung cake was taken and placed it at the bottom of the pyramid pot. The other pieces of cow dung cakes were arranged around it neatly. Some cow ghee at one end of small cow dung piece had been put, and then lights it with match stick. The piece of cow dung is lighted with fire then put it in copper pyramid pot. Two pinch full of clean, unbroken rice grains (raw) are grasped on one's left palm or in a small dish. These rice grains are smeared with a few drops of cow's pure ghee, and then divided in two parts. At exact time of sunrise and sunset saying 'Svāhā' one part of the rice grains to the fire is offered and then the next is done in similar way. After the completion of the whole process, the ash obtained is called as Agnihotra ash. Agnihotra is regarded a process of purification of the atmosphere as a cumulative effect of various scientific and sonic principles harnessed to give rise to an unparallel purifying and healing phenomenon. The ash obtained from the same process irrespective of any time limitation and the use of simple copper pot is considered as the control ash. The addition of appropriate quantity of Agnihotra ash with soil changes the composition of soil which increases the beneficial aspects of the same towards the growth of agricultural plant. It is the ghee used in Agnihotra process that is the catalytic factor and on a more subtle level the Mantras interacting with the combined effect of the burnt ghee and rice. This combination enters the soil after returning from the solar range. It enters the plants by, one might say, attaching itself to minerals and water absorbed by the root system of the plant. The ghee acts as a catalyst creating a chemical reaction with the plant aiding in enzyme and vitamin production and encouraging and increasing the cyclic rate. In other words the plants mature faster, taste better and are better just by mere performance of Agnihotra in the garden. Agnihotra and Agnihotra ash, when put on the soil, help stabilize the amount of nitrogen and potassium present. Agnihotra ash increases the water soluble phosphorous extracted from soil (Berk 2009). In the institute of commercial Horticulture, Tamil Naidu Agricultural University, Ooty, Comparative studies were done on flower mainly, but also on some kinds of vegetables, and the results are that organic farming with Agnihotra gave better results in terms of yield, quality and shelf life as well as disease resistance ( Selveraj 2009). Several reports from India, Peru, Venezuela, US and Austria, some of them including scientific documentation, give account of the beneficial effects of homa farming on plant