Bio-organic fertilizer refers to a type of fertilizer that combines the effects of both microbial and organic fertilizers, made by combining specialized microorganisms with harmlessly treated and decomposed organic materials primarily derived from animal and plant residues (such as livestock and poultry manure and crop straw).
A. Advantages of Bio-Organic Fertilizer over Chemical Fertilizer
1) More Comprehensive Nutrition
Bio-organic fertilizer contains all the macronutrients required by plants, as well as various trace elements, carbohydrates, and fats. Analysis shows that pig manure contains 2.91% total nitrogen, 1.33% total phosphorus, 1.0% total potassium, and 77% organic matter. Livestock and poultry manure contains 21.7-24 mg/kg of boron, 29-290 mg/kg of zinc, 143-261 mg/kg of manganese, 3.0-4.2 mg/kg of molybdenum, and 29-290 mg/kg of available iron.
Chemical fertilizers contain only one or a few nutrients, which can be categorized as macronutrients, secondary elements, and trace elements.
2) Improve Soil and Retain Water and Fertilizer
Bio-organic fertilizers improve soil quality. Applying organic fertilizers increases the organic matter content in the soil. Organic matter improves the physical, chemical, and biological properties of the soil, matures the soil, and improves soil fertility. Applying organic fertilizers not only increases the amount of organic colloids, but also, through the action of microorganisms, decomposes and converts much of the organic matter into organic colloids. This significantly increases the soil’s adsorption surface area and produces a large amount of adhesive substances, which binds soil particles together into a stable aggregate structure. This improves the soil’s water and fertilizer retention, air permeability, and ability to regulate soil temperature.
Chemical fertilizers are made from chemical fertilizers, either alone or in combination. Long-term, improper use can damage soil structure, reduce soil fertility, and harm the ecological environment.
3) Increase Crop Yields, Improve Agricultural Product Quality, and Promote Green Food
Bio-organic fertilizers are rich in macro, medium, and trace elements essential for plant growth and development, ensuring normal crop growth and development. Mixing with chemical fertilizers is an important way to achieve high and stable yields. They are also rich in organic matter, which effectively deactivates heavy metals and reduces their toxicity. Excessive use of chemical fertilizers can lead to a decline in agricultural product quality, but the use of bio-organic fertilizers can effectively improve this situation and improve agricultural product quality.
The “Basic Standards for Organic Agriculture and Food Processing” (IFOAM) include regulations regarding fertilizer use. Key points include “enhancing natural systems and biological recycling, returning sufficient amounts of organic matter to the soil to maintain and increase soil organic matter, soil fertility, and soil biological activity,” and “inorganic fertilizers are considered supplements to, not substitutes for, nutrient cycles.” The use of chemical fertilizers and growth regulators must be limited to levels that do not negatively impact the environment or crop quality, and do not cause toxic residues in crop products to accumulate to levels that could affect human health. These regulations demonstrate that in the production of green foods, great care must be taken to protect a healthy ecological environment and that excessive use of inorganic fertilizers must be limited. Organic fertilizers (including green manures and microbial fertilizers) are the primary source of fertilizer for green food production.
4) Improves the rhizosphere microenvironment and enhances disease and stress resistance.
Bio-organic fertilizers can improve the rhizosphere microbiome of crops, enriching it with a large number of beneficial microorganisms with diverse functions. This stimulates plant growth while also improving plant resistance to diseases and pests. Chemical fertilizers, on the other hand, tend to monotonically enrich crop microbial communities, making them more susceptible to pests and diseases.
5) Improves fertilizer utilization efficiency.
Bio-organic fertilizers provide organic colloids, reducing the fixation of trace elements while conserving water and nutrients, promoting the utilization of chemical fertilizers and improving their efficiency. Chemical fertilizers used alone can easily lead to nutrient fixation and loss.
B. Advantages of Bio-organic Fertilizers over Commercial Organic Fertilizers
Commercial organic fertilizers are manufactured using organic-rich solid wastes such as human and animal feces, plant and animal remains, and household garbage as their primary raw materials. A certain amount of other auxiliary materials (such as weathered coal, peat, medicinal residues, mushroom residues, etc.) and fermentation agents are added, and the fertilizers are processed in a factory-based manner.
1) Bio-organic fertilizers contain beneficial bacteria, which reduce disease risk due to the microbial population’s space-occupying effect. Commercial organic fertilizers are dried at high temperatures, killing all microorganisms.
2) Bio-organic fertilizers are high in nutrients; commercial organic fertilizers suffer nutrient loss due to high-temperature treatment.
3) Bio-organic fertilizers are deodorized, making them light or almost odorless. Commercial organic fertilizers that are not deodorized or are incompletely deodorized will develop a foul odor when exposed to moisture.
C. Advantages of Bio-Organic Fertilizers over Farmyard Manure
1) Bio-organic fertilizers are fully decomposed, achieving an insect egg mortality rate of over 95%. Farmyard manure is easy to stack and has a low insect egg mortality rate, requiring full decomposition before use.
2) Bio-organic fertilizers are deodorized, making them light or almost odorless. Farmyard manure has varying odors depending on the source material.
3) Commercially produced bio-organic fertilizers are either powdered or granulated, uniform in form, and have a low moisture content (≤30%), making them easy to apply. Farmyard manure is inconvenient to apply and can be unevenly applied.
D. Advantages of Bio-Organic Fertilizer over Microbial Fertilizer
1) Bio-organic fertilizer is inexpensive, with the price per ton varying depending on the bacterial strain used and the source of organic matter; microbial fertilizer is relatively expensive.
2) Bio-organic fertilizer contains functional bacteria and organic matter, which can improve soil quality and promote the release of nutrients fixed in the soil. Bio-fertilizer, on the other hand, contains only functional bacteria, which promote the utilization of soil-fixed fertilizers and regulate crop growth and development.
3) The organic matter in bio-organic fertilizer itself provides a habitat for the functional bacteria, making them more viable when applied to the soil. However, the functional bacteria in bio-fertilizer may not be suitable for the specific soil environment, so the specific functional bacteria species must be selected based on the specific soil environment.
E. Sources of Bio-Organic Fertilizer Raw Materials
Bio-organic fertilizers can be produced using a variety of raw materials, which can be categorized as follows:
Agricultural waste: For example, straw, soybean meal, cottonseed meal, rapeseed cake, etc.
Livestock and poultry manure: such as chicken manure, cattle, sheep, horse manure, and rabbit manure;
Industrial waste: such as wine lees, vinegar lees, cassava residue, sugar residue, furfural residue, sawdust, etc.;
Domestic waste: such as food waste and leftover vegetables from the market;
Plant products: such as bamboo powder, bamboo charcoal, bamboo ash, straw charcoal, and wood ash.
Appropriate application rates and timing ensure that fertilizer nutrients are fully absorbed and utilized by plants while avoiding waste and pollution caused by over-fertilization.
In short, bio-organic fertilizer is a highly effective fertilizer with multiple advantages, including improving soil structure, increasing soil fertility, reducing environmental pollution, and promoting sustainable agricultural development.
