Journal of Biotechnology & Biomaterials
Open Access

Abstract

A new approach to plant nutrition has been discovered at Cambridge, United Kingdom. Research, over more than a decade, has resulted in the development of a biological fertilizer that enables plants to be grown on highly contaminated and marginal land. The material comprises a mixture of natural zeolitic rock and organic waste. Trials have shown that crops suitable for use as bio-fuel can be sustained on industrial waste sites that have remained barren of vegetation for many decades. The enhanced size of the plants is extraordinary and appears generalized over a large range of plant species. This effect is also found in plants grown on farm land low in nutrients. Trials in the coastal region of South East Spain revealed that the bio-fertilizer is also effective in semi-arid lands. The current hypothesis put forward to explain this behavior concerns the capture of ammonium ions, liberated from the decomposition of the organic waste, which are oxidized by micro-organisms when the mixture is applied to a soil. As a consequence, the natural process of nitrification is highly sponsored and the ensuing enzyme reactions, by releasing protons which are highly reactive, dissociate cations from the substrate. Thus, both nitrate and beneficial trace elements are available for uptake. Phosphorus is provided from the organic waste and the other major plant nutrient, potassium, is present in the organically enriched soil. Water, always found in natural zeolites, is adsorbed and desorbed according to ambient temperature and aids in the soil microbial functions.

Biography

Email: pjl46@cam.ac.uk