In a newly published study, researchers dug into how fertilizing with manure affects soil quality, compared with inorganic fertilizer.
Ekrem Ozlu of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and his team studied two fields in South Dakota. From 2003 to 2015, the research team applied either manure or inorganic fertilizer to field plots growing corn and soybeans. They used low, medium, and high manure levels, and medium and high inorganic fertilizer levels. They also had a control treatment of no soil additives to provide a comparison.
In the summer of 2015, they collected soil samples at a variety of depths using a push probe auger. Then they analyzed the samples.
- Manure helped keep soil pH—a measure of acidity or alkalinity—in a healthy range for crops. Inorganic fertilizer made the soil more acidic.
- Manure increased soil organic carbon for all the measured soil depths compared to inorganic fertilizer and control treatments. More carbon means better soil structure.
- Manure significantly increased total nitrogen compared to fertilizer treatments. Nitrogen is key to plant growth.
- Manure increased water-stable aggregates. These are groups of soil particles that stick to each other. Increased water-stable aggregates help soil resist water erosion. Inorganic fertilizer application decreased these aggregates.
Is it time to re-purpose the world's sewage into fertilizer?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by BsAtHome on Wednesday October 31 2018, @07:43PM (1 child)
Well, headache peaches, arthritis apples, hypertension oranges, infectious plums, ... what is not to like? The question is how much of the active ingredients will be build into the plant structure.
Anyhow, sewage is the natural fertilizer. Nature has been using it for a long time. Using too much of it is a problem (see f.ex. fields across Europe and how the ground water got polluted). Using the same thing all the time is also bad. Variation is usually the key.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday October 31 2018, @08:59PM
Very little, the soil microbiome will take care of those. Unless you kill that microbiome.
Or apply sewerage over what a 'normal' soil microbiome can process and you shift it towards... ummm... a shity one; you know? E. coli and all that.
(points: ain't no such thing as a free lunch and the dose makes the poison)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford