![]() Recycling nutrients from secondary resources may offer an improvement to the overall efficiency of the fertilizer-to-food chain. ![]() nitrous oxide), biodiversity and soil quality (e.g. ![]() emissions of ammonia and nitrous oxide), the greenhouse gas balance (e.g. A considerable portion of these fertilizers ultimately end up in the environment, resulting in detrimental effects on water quality (e.g. For every 100 units of fertilizer applied to the land, only 4–14 units of nitrogen and 17 units of phosphorus are eventually consumed by humans. When fertilizers are applied to the soil or in growing media (GM) for agricultural and horticultural applications, they are not completely consumed by plants, yet suffer from inefficiencies such as leaching, runoff and volatilization. Intensive fertilizer use has, however, serious environmental and economic repercussions. ammonium nitrate, ammonium sulfate and urea), 10.3 million tons of P and 15.6 million tons of K are annually consumed. It is estimated that over 110 million tons of N fertilizer (e.g. Our industrialized global society is heavily dependent on synthetic inorganic fertilizers for primary crop production in both agriculture and horticulture. These findings strengthen the application potential of this novel class of organic fertilizers in the bioeconomy, with a promising match between nutrient mineralization and plant requirements as well as added value in crop protection. platensis was present in the growing medium. Moreover, tomato plants artificially infected with powdery mildew ( Oidium neolycopersici), a devastating disease for the horticultural industry, showed reduced disease symptoms when A. This was confirmed in a pot trial with tomato ( Solanum lycopersicum L.), showing an average total plant length of 90–99 cm after a growing period of 62 days for the reference organic fertilizer and the microbial fertilizers. In a pot trial with perennial ryegrass ( Lolium perenne L.), the performance of microbial fertilizers was similar to the reference organic fertilizer, with cumulative dry matter yields of 5.6–6.7 g per pot. Mineralization and nitrification experiments showed that the nitrogen mineralization profile can be tuned to the plant’s needs by blending microbial fertilizers, without having toxic ammonium peaks. This study has explored three promising types of microbial fertilizers, namely dried biomass from a consortium of aerobic heterotrophic bacteria, a microalga ( Arthrospira platensis) and a purple non-sulfur bacterium ( Rhodobacter sphaeroides). Moreover, most research only focuses on direct fertilization effects without considering added value properties, such as disease prevention. Bloom ® and Synagro) yet microbial fertilizer blends to align the nutrient release profile to the plant’s needs are, thus far, unexplored. Microbial fertilizers are already common practice (e.g. Organic fertilizers and especially microbial biomass, also known as microbial fertilizer, can enable a paradigm shift to the conventional fertilizer-to-food chain, particularly when produced on secondary resources.
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