Organic manures composition

Powers, W. L., et al. 1975. Formulas for applying organic wastes to land. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 30 286-289. Misra, R. V., and P. R. Hesse. 1983. Comparative Analyses of Organic Manures. Rome FAO Choudhary, M., L. D. Bailey, and C. A. Grant. 1996. Review of the use of swine manure in crop production effects on yield and composition and on soil and water quality. Waste Management Research 14 581-595. 

Organic gardeners use several substances besides manure to add nutrients to garden soils. Some are widely available, while others are available only via mail order or in small locahzed areas. The composition of these substance also varies widely. Some of the more commonly found organic fertilizers and the appropriate ranges of nutrient concentrations are given in Table 5. 

The vinasse of sugar beet.—Sugar beet contains about 0 5 per cent, of potash, K20, largely in combination with organic acids. The potash accumulates in the molasses of the best sugar factories. The molasses are fermented and distilled for alcohol. The residue which remains in the retort—called vinasse—may be used as a manure, or it may be mixed with lime and ignited to form what was once called vinasse cinder, and used in the manufacture of soft-soap. It is, however, more profitably refined for potash by fractional crystallization.6 The product has approximately the composition ... 

TABLE 14.3. A Summary of the Abundance of Compound Classes Determined by Py-FIMS in Major Soil Units of the World and in Samples Showing the Influence of Primary Organic Matter Input Either from Vegetation or with Farmyard Manure (FYM) on the Composition of Soil Organic Matter... 

Feedstuffs can be highly variable in composition, especially organic feedstuffs which are grown on land fertilized with manures therefore, the values should only be used as a guide in diet formulation. In addition, some of the data quoted are old, particularly the vitamin values, since more recent data are not available. Although old, the vitamin data should be of interest since organic producers wish to maximize the use of natural ingredients. The vitamin A values assume 1667 IU vitamin A per 1 mg p-carotene (NRC, 1994). The abbreviation NA in the tables indicates that no data are available. 

There is no doubt that the fertUity of a soil depends much more on the bacterial flora wHdi it contains than on the inorganic fertilizers or manures which may be applied. The very utility of the latter does not dq[>end solely upon the materials which it brings, but depends also to a large extent upon its mi-crobic composition. A gram of manure contains as many as 70 million micro-organisms, and these exert a marked influence on the transformations taking place in the soil, as Stoklasa has shown by comparing harvests obtained both with natural manures and with sterilized manures. 

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