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Organic Fertilizers- From Basic Concepts to Applied Outcomes - Preface

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ORGANIC FERTILIZERS
FROM BASIC CONCEPTS
TO APPLIED OUTCOMES

Edited by Marcelo L. Larramendy

and Sonia Soloneski
 ORGANIC FERTILIZERS -
FROM BASIC CONCEPTS
TO APPLIED OUTCOMES

Edited by Marcelo L. Larramendy

and Sonia Soloneski
Organic Fertilizers - From Basic Concepts to Applied Outcomes
http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/61454
Edited by Marcelo L. Larramendy and Sonia Soloneski

Contributors
Allah Ditta, Dr. Amanullah, Zhifang Li, Yani Ning, Pinchun Diao, Qian Wang, Qingzhong Zhang, Ziliang Zhao, Amjad A.
Ahmad, Theodore Radovich, Hue Nguyen, Jensen Uyeda, Alton Arakaki, Glenn Teves, Jeana Cadby, Robert Paull, Jari
Sugano, Edson Eguchi, Ulysses Cecato, Antonio Saraiva Muniz, Luiz Juliano Valério Geron, Murilo Donizeti Do Carmo,
Dragan Znidarcic, Lovro Sinkovič, Guanghui Yu, Wei Ran, Qirong Shen, George Fouad Antonious, Martha Barajas-
Aceves, Emilio V. Carral Vilariño, Adolfo López, Socorro Seoane, Teresa Rodríguez, Elvira López -Mosquera, Carlos
Caaveiro, Yanling Wang, Hailin Zhang, Naoki Moritsuka, Rafael Vasconcelos Valadares, Lucas De Avila-Silva, Rafael Da
Silva Teixeira, Rodrigo Nogueira De Sousa, Leonardus Vergutz, Kokoasse Kpomblekou-A, Desmond Mortley, Anthony
Ayodeji Adegoke, Oluyemi Olatunji Awolusi, Thor Axel Stenstrom, Jucimare Romaniw, João Carlos De Moraes Sá,
Ademir de Oliveira Ferreira, Thiago Massao Inagaki

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First published July, 2016

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Additional hard copies can be obtained from orders@intechopen.com

Organic Fertilizers - From Basic Concepts to Applied Outcomes, Edited by Marcelo L. Larramendy and Sonia Soloneski
p. cm.
Print ISBN 978-953-51-2449-8
Online ISBN 978-953-51-2450-4
Contents

Preface VII

Chapter 1 Compost Process and Organic Fertilizers Application

in China 1
Guanghui Yu, Wei Ran and Qirong Shen

Chapter 2 Organic Fertilizers in Alabama: Composition, Transformations,

and Crop Response in Selected Soils of the Southeast
United States 25
Kokoasse Kpomblekou-A and Desmond Mortley

Chapter 3 Green Manures and Crop Residues as Source of Nutrients in

Tropical Environment 51
Rafael Vasconcelos Valadares, Lucas de Ávila‐Silva, Rafael da Silva
Teixeira, Rodrigo Nogueira de Sousa and Leonardus Vergütz

Chapter 4 Use of Organic Fertilizers to Enhance Soil Fertility, Plant

Growth, and Yield in a Tropical Environment 85
Amjad A. Ahmad, Theodore J.K. Radovich, Hue V. Nguyen, Jensen
Uyeda, Alton Arakaki, Jeana Cadby, Robert Paull, Jari Sugano and
Glenn Teves

Chapter 5 Bio-Organo-Phos: A Sustainable Approach for Managing

Phosphorus Deficiency in Agricultural Soils 109
Allah Ditta and Azeem Khalid

Chapter 6 Integrated Use of Phosphorus, Animal Manures and

Biofertilizers Improve Maize Productivity under Semiarid
Condition 137
Dr. Amanullah and Shah Khalid

Chapter 7 Soil Amendments for Agricultural Production 157

George F. Antonious
VI Contents

Chapter 8 Physicochemical Properties of a Red Soil Affected by the Long-

term Application of Organic and Inorganic Fertilizers 189
Yanling Wang and Hailin Zhang

Chapter 9 An Overview of the Studies on Biochar Fertilizer Carried Out at

the Beginning of the Twentieth Century in Japan 203
Naoki Moritsuka and Kaori Matsuoka

Chapter 10 C‐CO2 Emissions, Carbon Pools and Crop Productivity Increased

upon Slaughterhouse Organic Residue Fertilization in a
No‐Till System 223
Jucimare Romaniw, João Carlos de Moraes Sá, Ademir de Oliveira
Ferreira and Thiago Massao Inagaki

Chapter 11 Organic Waste as Fertilizer in Semi-Arid Soils and Restoration

in Mine Sites 243
Martha Barajas-Aceves

Chapter 12 Use of Pasteurised and N-Organic-Enriched Sewage Sludge

(Biosolid) as Organic Fertiliser for Maize Crops: Grain
Production and Soil Modification Evaluation 273
Emilio Carral, Adolfo López-Fabal, Socorro Seoane, Teresa
Rodríguez, Carlos Caaveiro and Elvira López-Mosquera

Chapter 13 On-Farm-Produced Organic Amendments on Maintaining and

Enhancing Soil Fertility and Nitrogen Availability in Organic or
Low Input Agriculture 289
Yani Nin, Pinchun Diao, Qian Wang, Qingzhong Zhang, Ziliang
Zhao and Zhifang Li

Chapter 14 Impact of Organic Fertilizers on Phenolic Profiles and Fatty

Acids Composition: A Case Study for Cichorium intybus L. 309
Lovro Sinkovič and Dragan Žnidarčič

Chapter 15 Productivity and Structures of Marandu Grass Fertilized with

Poultry Manure Both with and Without Soil Chiseling 331
Edson Sadayuki Eguchi, Ulysses Cecato, Antonio Saraiva Muniz, Luiz
Juliano Valério Geron and Murilo Donizeti do Carmo

Chapter 16 Organic Fertilizers: Public Health Intricacies 343

Anthony A. Adegoke, Oluyemi O. Awolusi and Thor A. Stenström
Preface

According to the United Nations, the world population of 6.7 billion is likely to reach 9.2
billion by 2050. The UN Millennium Project report indicated that to keep up with popula‐
tion and economic growth, food production will have to increase by 70% by 2050 to help
solve the current food crisis. This increased food production will have to occur in less availa‐
ble arable crops, and this can only be accomplished by intensifying the production. Agricul‐
ture in the twenty-first century faces several challenges, such as meat production without
growing animals, better irrigation management for agricultural processes, the development
of genetic engineering for drought-tolerant and higher yielding crops, the improvement of
agricultural precision and aquaculture, the sustainable development of biofuels and the pro‐
motion of the organic agriculture around the world, among others. However, intensifying
food production must be done in an environmentally safe manner through ecological inten‐
sification to increase the yield per unit of land, approaching the reachable yield of farming
systems, with minimal or no negative environmental impact.
The world will not be able to meet its food production goals without the use of fertilizers.
Actually, fertilization is responsible for 40–60% of the world’s food production. In this way,
the government’s responsibility is in developing best management practices that use fertiliz‐
ers in an effective, efficient and safe manner, ensuring that good production and environ‐
mental goals are met not only in industrialized nations, but also in developing countries.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), global fertilizers have played
an important role in increased crop production, especially cereal yields, and will continue to
be the key in the future. In the FAO report “World Fertilizer Trends and Outlook to 2018,”
they report that global fertilizer use is likely to rise above 200.5 million tons, 25% higher
than that recorded in 2008. At the same time, the global capacity of synthetic fertilizer prod‐
ucts, intermediates and raw materials will increase with the production of the main three
soil fertilizers, namely, nitrogen, phosphorus and potash. The doubling of global production
during the past 35 years was related to a 6.9-fold increase in nitrogen fertilization and a 3.5-
fold increase in phosphorus fertilization. Agriculture practices contribute to over 20% of
global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, agricultural intensification
has had major detrimental impacts on worldwide ecosystems.
Agricultural practices are constantly changing in nature, and fertilization procedures vary
with time due to the emergence of remarkable innovations in crop production practices un‐
der sustainable crop production systems. Since climate change has a direct impact on agri‐
culture systems, environmentally sound farming practices need to be quickly developed.
Organic agriculture offers a major potential to diminish the emissions of agricultural green‐
house gases. This is regarded as a sustainable agricultural system, and taking into consider‐
ation soil fertility conservation for the establishment of an adequate crop system that is
VIII Preface

economically acceptable, environmentally sustainable and technically practicable is the goal

of agricultural agronomists, farmers and producers. Dependence on organic nutrient sour‐
ces is a central characteristic of organic agriculture, which uses organic nutrient sources such
as livestock and green manure and several types of compost even to meet the crop demand
in intensive cereal production. One of the advantages to the use of organic fertilizers is that
they provide their nutrients to crops over a long period of time in a slow release process.
Accordingly, more research on improving efficiency and minimizing losses from organic
natural resources is needed to determine benefits, costs and adequate agricultural practices
to avoid the necessity of using synthetic inorganic fertilizers.
This book, Organic Fertilizers – From Basic Concepts to Applied Outcomes, is intended to pro‐
vide an overview of emerging researchable issues related to the use of organic fertilizers that
highlight recent research activities in applied organic fertilizers toward a sustainable agri‐
culture and environment. We aimed to compile information from a diversity of sources into
a single volume to give some real examples extending the concepts in organic fertilizers that
may stimulate new research ideas and trends in the relevant fields.
This book comprises nine general chapters describing issues related to the use of several
manures and other farming derivative products. The first chapter describes the current sta‐
tus of the composting process, the development of novel spectroscopy techniques for assess‐
ing compost maturity and the improvement of soil fertility by organic fertilizer
amendments. The second chapter aims to provide information on organic fertilizer sources,
including poultry farms and fish farms, as well as a discussion of the composition, transfor‐
mation and crop response in selected soils. The third chapter is an update about the difficul‐
ties and limitations involved in the use of green manure and the use of crop residues in
managing soil fertility, and the main factors influencing the decomposition and mineraliza‐
tion processes in tropical crops. The fourth chapter provides information about experiences
using different organic amendments, including tankage, chicken manure and seaweed as
potential organic fertilizers, in different tropical soils. The fifth chapter focuses on the im‐
portance of economical and sustainable sources of phosphorus and the comparative efficacy
in the use of organic fertilizer containing rock phosphate for legumes crops. The sixth chap‐
ter aims to provide information about the role of integrated biofertilizers, animal manures
and phosphorous management for improving crop productivity under semiarid conditions.
As a case study, the seventh chapter discusses the use of soil amendments for agricultural
production using different waste applications, such as municipal sewage sludge, chicken
manure, horse manure and cow manure. The eighth chapter depicts the impacts of organic
and inorganic fertilizers on physicochemical properties of red soils. Finally, the ninth chap‐
ter is an interesting overview attempting to unveil a conflict between the traditional knowl‐
edge of biochar fertilizer and the new knowledge of soil science. Then, three chapters
discuss the use of different derivatives of the meat industry sector as potential organic fertil‐
izers. The influence of different rates of slaughterhouse organic residues applied alone or
together with synthetic mineral fertilizers in diverse crops as an efficient strategy to reduce
costs and increase the carbon levels, providing agronomic and environmental benefits, are
evaluated. Similarly, the use of organic waste such as tannery sludge, which has high organ‐
ic matter, nitrogen, and phosphorus content, as an organic fertilizer for improving soil fertil‐
ity in semiarid soils and for the remediation of abandoned mine sites is described. Also, the
effects of two pasteurized nitrogen-enriched sludge loadings on corn crops for grain pro‐
duction and soil modification evaluation are analyzed. The next three chapters include a dis‐
 Preface IX

cussion on an important contribution to leguminous intercropping that includes soil organic

matter enhancement and fertility building, biological nitrogen and other plant nutrition
availability; a study of the effect of organic and inorganic fertilizers on the total phenolics
content and fatty acid levels of five common chicory varieties and research about the pro‐
duction of forage grass fertilized with poultry manure applied to the soil with and without
soil chiseling. Finally, this book includes a last chapter discussing the possibilities of recy‐
cling foodborne pathogens and residual antibiotics through agricultural crop practices as
potential constituents of organic fertilizers, stressing the potential risk for human popula‐
tions.
The contributions made by the specialists in this field of research are gratefully acknowl‐
edged. The publication of this book is of high importance for those researchers, scientists,
engineers, teachers, graduate students, agricultural agronomists, farmers, and crop produc‐
ers who make use of these different investigations to understand the advantages of the use
of organic fertilizers. Future agricultural practices will irreversibly shape the Earth’s land
surface, including its species, geochemistry and disponibility of surface to the people living
on it. We hope that the information presented in this book will be of value to those directly
engaged in the handling and use of organic fertilizers, and that this book will continue to
meet the expectations and needs of all those interested in the different aspects of the use of
organic fertilizers to achieve a sustainable agriculture without compromising environmental
integrity.

Marcelo L. Larramendy, PhD and Sonia Soloneski, PhD

School of Natural Sciences and Museum
National University of La Plata
La Plata, Argentina
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