Mumbai: Federal Minister Nitin Gadkari’s secret behind the thriving plants and trees at his Delhi bungalow is out in the open – he waters them with his own urine that he collects in a 50-liter can.

Speaking at an event on irrigation in Nagpur on Sunday, the senior Bharatiya Janata Party described urine as a “free fertilizer” that could help people grow bigger plants.

“I’m going to tell you about an experiment I did, it’s a little embarrassing but please don’t mind… I collected urine in a 50-liter can,” said Gadkari, who spoke in Marathi.

“I told the gardener to use urine on a few plants and there was a clear difference – they grew one-and-a-half times more than the other plants,” he said with a smile as the audience erupted in laughter, The Hindustan Times reported.

Despite the Union road transport and national highways minister’s acknowledgement that the matter was embarrassing, he went on to say exactly how he collected the urine. He said he stored his urine in a small plastic can every day and then collected it in the bigger 50-litre can.

“This is a free fertilizer you have available. I drew the line at urine and didn’t go any further – that is also fertilizer,” he said. “So you all should experiment with storing your urine in a plastic can and using it as fertilizer.”

He added that people should use urine because it contains nutrients like “urea and nitrogen”.

The proud minister revealed that he had several trees and organic vegetable plants on an acre of land within the compound of his bungalow in the posh Lutyens’ Zone of Delhi.

“Experiment with it on orange trees and see the growth rate of those trees, see how many flowers bloom on them. The results are very good,” he said, adding that saving money was the same as earning money.

“Resourcefulness, entrepreneurship and innovation are important qualities,” Gadkari told the cheering crowd.