The use of organic fertilizers in agriculture depends exclusively on the organic materials provided by Mother Nature. Organic matter is a relatively stable material, also called humus, which is somewhat resistant to rapid further decomposition.
▶ It also includes those organic materials that are subject to rapid decomposition, ranging from fresh crop residues to those that by a chain of decomposition reactions approach a certain degree of stability.
▶ Credits: Euractiv. – [Image of Public Domain]
Organic fertilizers are of fundamental importance, since they give back to the soil everything that the crop has taken away from it, in addition, these materials provide elements that contribute to the balance and spontaneous availability of nutrients.
Organic fertilizers improve the organoleptic conditions of fruits, used in vegetables, it has been demonstrated 30% less nitrate than those coming from non-organic crops. For organic fertilization, the following materials of organic origin can be applied.
To be useful as organic fertilizer each one deserves a different management; for example, fresh manures present a higher level of decomposition than old ones; manures from poultry, goats and sheep are considered hot because they contain more nitrogen and less water, seedlings and seeds burn in large amounts of N and less in germinating seeds.
It is important to compost the materials to achieve a higher nutrient retention capacity and by raising the temperature to 70 °C pathogens and weed seeds are destroyed.
NOTE: Reference material.