Organic Fertilizer Overview

First, the basic concept of organic fertilizer

1. What is organic fertilizer?

Under natural conditions or artificial control, under certain moisture, C/N ratio (is the proportion of nutrients required for microbial growth), oxygen and temperature, organic solid waste (livestock and poultry manure, crop straw, etc. or their mixtures) through the fermentation of microorganisms is transformed into a fertilizer that can be used as base fertilizer.

2. What are microorganisms?

Microorganisms are actually very familiar to everyone, such as yeast at home and yeast added to grain and wine are microorganisms, they are a living life that cannot be seen by human eyes and needs to be magnified thousands of times to see. Their role is to treat organic materials such as livestock and poultry manure as their food, in the process of eating organic materials, they absorb nutrients and grow, but also release the nutrients and calories beneficial to crops in organic materials, and finally form stable humic acid and other substances that are very good quality organic fertilizers, heat accumulation to a certain extent, can kill livestock and poultry manure in the disease eggs. In order to achieve the purpose of rapid decomposition of livestock and poultry manure, microorganisms that can quickly decompose materials can be artificially added, which is commonly known as organic fertilizer fermentation fungicide, and organic fertilizer fermentation fungicide will be described in detail in later chapters.

3. What is moisture?

The meaning of moisture is understood as soon as you hear it, and what we want to explain here is why moisture is so important, we all know that the manure from the pig farm or cattle farm is very large in moisture, the moisture is too large, affecting oxygen into the livestock and poultry manure, and eventually it will affect the quality of organic fertilizer, the importance of oxygen will be mentioned later. Organic fertilizer fermentation generally requires a water content of 55%~60%, that is, it can form a ball with a grasp of the hand, and it can be dispersed after falling to the ground. The way to control moisture is to add very dry materials such as corn stover, wheat straw, etc. to the manure, which can be determined according to the situation of each household.

4. What is the C/N ratio?

C/N ratio is the proportion of the two most important nutrients necessary for the growth of microorganisms, the ratio is generally between 25~30:1, the C/N ratio is too high, microorganisms can not grow rapidly, the compost fermentation rate of livestock and poultry manure becomes slow, the C/N ratio is too low, the N element in the fertilizer is excessive, and it is easy to lose during the composting process, reducing the fertilizer efficiency. In the production process, good organic fertilizers can be obtained by artificially controlling the C/N ratio in manure, such as adding crop straw with high C content to the compost can increase the C/N ratio, and adding urea containing high N elements can reduce the C/N ratio.

Table 2-1 C, N content and C/N ratio of straw of several major crops

5. The importance of oxygen

Microorganisms and people also need to breathe air to grow, in order to rot livestock and poultry manure well, such as microorganisms do not get enough oxygen, will affect the quality of organic fertilizer, therefore, the importance of oxygen determines that in the production of organic fertilizer must find ways to supply enough oxygen, such as manual pounding or mechanical pounding.

6. The importance of temperature

The temperature reflects the good or bad effect of compost fermentation, first of all, the high temperature indicates that the microorganisms produce a lot of heat during fermentation, indicating that the microorganisms grow actively, and the fermentation of livestock and poultry manure has a good effect; Secondly, the high temperature can kill the pest eggs in the manure and improve the quality of organic fertilizer.

Second, the difference between traditional organic fertilizer and refined organic fertilizer

1. Conceptual differences

Traditional organic fertilizer: It is commonly referred to as manure (farm manure) or ordinary compost. Manure is a farmhouse fertilizer made by the accumulation of poultry manure, urine, litter, surplus feed and other mixed substrates and the action of microorganisms, and fresh manure generally needs to be accumulated and rotted before use; Ordinary composting is a fertilizer that accumulates livestock and poultry manure, weeds, fallen leaves, straw, soil, etc., and decomposes it through gas disinfection under natural conditions, and the ordinary composting process decomposes organic matter slowly and decays for a long time.

Refined organic fertilizer: It is a compost made of organic fertilizer with packaging that can be bought on the market and made by high temperature fermentation. The difference between high-temperature compost and ordinary compost is to ensure good aeration, while better controlling the carbon-nitrogen ratio, humidity, pH, etc., to promote gaseous microorganisms to carry out high-temperature (60 °C) fermentation activities, there is an obvious high-temperature stage, generally at 60 °C ~ 70 °C, and commonly used artificial methods to inoculate high-temperature fibrolytic bacteria. This kind of compost decomposes quickly, has a short stacking time, and has a high temperature, which has a good effect on destroying certain pathogenic bacteria, insect eggs, weed seeds, etc.

2. The difference in production technology

Traditional organic fertilizer: organic fertilizer obtained by stacking organic materials and then fermenting or dipping under natural conditions, such as manure called manure by farmer friends, basically has no artificial control in the fermentation process, that is, regardless of fermentation.

Refined organic fertilizer: is an organic fertilizer produced by fermentation under human control, human control can show the following aspects: first of all, artificial control of moisture: such as adding air-dried wheat straw or corn stover and other substances to very wet pig manure, that is, adjusting the moisture; secondly, adjust the C/N ratio; Third, control oxygen: such as manually or mechanically pounding manure to adjust the oxygen content in manure, so as to achieve the purpose of rapid fermentation.

3. The difference in production cycle

The production of traditional organic fertilizer needs to be refined for at least half a year to obtain organic fertilizer with relatively qualified quality; The production cycle of refined organic fertilizer is 15-20 days, which is related to the temperature of the season, and the winter time is longer.

4. The difference in quality

Traditional organic fertilizer: because the fermentation process is difficult to reach high temperature, traditional organic fertilizer has a large number of bacteria and insect eggs, which are easy to cause diseases and pests after being applied to the ground, increase the cost of purchasing pesticides, and also increase the pesticide residues of vegetables; Traditional organic fertilizer is difficult to rot completely, and it is easy to burn seedlings after being applied to the ground; Traditional organic fertilizer still has a stimulating odor, which is not easy to operate and is not good for the body.

Refined organic fertilizer: commercial organic fertilizer overcomes all the shortcomings of traditional organic fertilizer, so it is far better than traditional organic fertilizer in quality, with the advantages of complete rot, no pathogenic bacteria and insect eggs, odorless, higher nutrients than traditional organic fertilizer, and increasing the quality and income of agricultural products.

5. The difference between anaerobic and aerobic fermentation

Traditional organic fertilizer, fermentation is anaerobic state, no need to overturn. Refined organic fertilizer, fermented into aerobic state, needs to be manually turned over or mechanically overturned to supply oxygen.

Third, the advantages and disadvantages of refined organic fertilizer

1. Advantages of refined organic fertilizer

The fertilizer has good efficiency, and after rotting is ripe, the nutrients in the fertilizer are released, which is easily absorbed by crops and has a fast effect; Long-lasting fertilizer effect, comprehensive nutrients, can provide macro and trace elements required for crop growth, increase soil organic matter content, promote the formation of soil agglomerate structure, enhance soil water retention, fertilizer retention and aeration capacity; It can promote the reproduction of soil microorganisms, increase the types and quantities of microorganisms in the soil, and accelerate the decomposition and accumulation of nutrients in the soil; It can activate soil nutrients, increase and renew soil organic matter, combine and fix the active ingredients of fast-acting fertilizers, improve the utilization rate of chemical fertilizers, reduce the leaching loss of chemical fertilizers, avoid environmental pollution, and protect the ecology; Activate the metabolism of microorganisms in the soil to degrade toxic substances in the soil and keep the land alive; Easy to operate, no pungent odor after fertilizer rot, aspect transportation and work in greenhouses; After the rotten fertilizer is applied to the ground, it is no longer fermented to produce heat and gas, which prevents the burning of seedlings; Harmless and thorough, harmful bacteria and insect eggs (E. coli value, roundworm egg mortality rate up to the national standard) are all killed, crop diseases and pests are greatly reduced after application, pesticide costs are reduced, the quality of agricultural products is improved (pesticide residues are reduced), and income is increased; Livestock and poultry manure is both a source of fertilizer and a source of pollution, and making full use of organic fertilizer is an effective measure to turn waste into treasure and improve environmental quality. Practice has proved that increasing the application of organic fertilizer is an effective measure to cultivate soil and improve soil fertility.

2. Insufficient refining of organic fertilizer

Compared with chemical fertilizer, the disadvantages of refined organic fertilizer are: low active ingredients, large fertilizer dosage, weak fertilizer supply intensity, slow release of fertilizer efficiency, and it is not easy to meet the nutrient requirements of different stages of crop development; Stacking is labor-intensive, large in size, and inconvenient for transportation; It is not convenient to use mechanical fertilization, manual fertilization is also labor-intensive and time-consuming, labor-intensive and inefficient. Therefore, it is usually necessary to apply in combination with fast-acting fertilizers.