London, Sep 3 (Inditop.com) Human urine and wood ash appear to make a potent, low cost fertiliser for boosting output of food crops.
A new study found that plants fertilised with urine produced four times more tomatoes than nonfertilised plants and as much as plants given synthetic fertiliser.
Surendra Pradhan and colleagues from University of Kuopio (Finland) conducted the study and pointed out that urine, a good source of nitrogen, has been successfully used in production of cucumber, corn, cabbage and other crops.
Only a few studies, however, have investigated the use of wood ash, which is rich in minerals and also reduces the acidity of certain soils. Scientists have not reported on the combinaton of urine and wood ash, they say, according to a Kuopio release.
“The results suggest that urine with or without wood ash can be used as a substitute for mineral fertiliser to increase the yields of tomato without posing any microbial or chemical risks,” the report says.
The study appears in the current issue of ACS’ Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
