Fertilizing Potential of Urine in Agriculture
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ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTION
Fertilizing Potential of Urine in Agriculture Shardul Kale1 • Nikhil Kishor1 • Pratibha S. Agrawal1
Received: 8 May 2020 / Accepted: 5 November 2020 The Institution of Engineers (India) 2020
Abstract This paper aims to devise an alternative low-cost optimized solution of using urine as a fertilizer. Urine biowaste from humans and livestock has unrealized potential and can increase the yield of crops if used correctly. For Triticum aestivum (Common wheat), 30% of urine can be potent in promoting growth. A comparative assessment was conducted to validate the applicability of the proposed method. Several plant growth parameters like chlorophyll content, average leaf length, and percentage germination were evaluated to reach the optimized urine dosage for enhanced plant growth. The study also provides a schematic model for an economically feasible waste collection system that can treat the urine and produce easy-to-use fertilizer using the proposed method. Keywords NPK Waste collection Fertilizer Urine
Introduction Rising food demand is the result of the growing world population and chemical fertilizers are essential to meet this demand. The major nutrients available in the fertilizer market consist of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K). Human defecation in the agriculture sector is being utilized since time immemorial. The upbringing of chemical fertilizers in the sector has neglected the scope of usage of natural waste, in the hope of higher crop yield. & Nikhil Kishor [email protected] 1
Department of Applied Chemistry, Laxminarayan Institute of Technology, Nagpur 440001, India
Pollution in water bodies near crop fields is making the soil unfit for agriculture due to an increase in alkalinity over a period, which takes place due to the careless use of such highly soluble fertilizers [1, 2]. However, the chemical fertilizers are not readily available in remote villages and are neither economical. The soil conditions and yield are deeply affected by the use of chemical fertilizers. For healthy plant growth, large amounts of nitrogen and phosphorous are necessary. The chemical composition of the chemical fertilizers is the same as that produced by the body. The plants need ammonia and nitrogen released by the urea in soil for proper growth. The problem of communicable diseases is created in unhygienic situations due to the social stigma and the practice of open defecation in India [3]. The issues related to proper drainage and treatment of human waste are prominent in remote places. Urine is considered to be beneficial as it contains major nutrients for plant growth similar to chemical fertilizers [4, 5]. Urine contains N in the form of soluble urea. Its effectiveness in plant growth has been studied extensively [6–8]. If fertilization by urine is carried out correctly, with respect to its amount, urine nitrogen has the same agricultural values as commercially produced mineral fertilizers [9]. It has been observed for some plant species like Barley that the intake
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