The Organo-Zeolitic Bio-fertilizer: A New Approach to Plant Nutrition.

The adoption of a biological method of plant nutrition
has proved to be extremely efficient. The method does
not involve the use of chemical salts as used in traditional
plant fertilizers. These fertilizers used over some 80
years has had a deleterious effect on soil health due to
the diffusion of the salts used which often lead to over
application. The new approach to improve soil health
and plant growth uses natural crushed zeolite rock and
organic waste as a soil amendment. This material supplies
nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium together with
minor and trace elements which are essential and beneficial
to plant growth. Zeolite minerals are well known
to adsorb ammonium ions which are provided by the
decomposition of the organic component. When the
organo-zeolitic mixture is added to a soil the ammonium
ions are replaced by soil Potassium. The slow release of
the ammonium ions are oxidised by Crenarcheota, a soil
micro-organism that is now known to be the most prevalent
ammonium oxidizing microbe in the soil environment.
This behaviour provides a gradual accumulation
of nitrate in an ionic condition that can be accepted by
the growing plant. In this way there is very little access
nitrate to diffuse into the soil and with phosphorus supplied
from the organic waste and potassium, available
from the soil. the three major nutritional elements (NPK)
are present. As the process of nitrification, involves enzymes
which produce hydrogen in the form of hydronium
ions that are very reactive, releasing a range of elements
from the soil which provide minor element ions, in trace
quantities, required for strong plant growth. The organic
component maintains an adequate supply of carbon
which is lost in the long-term use of traditional chemical
fertilizers. The presence of soil carbon is essential for soil
health as its reduction results in loss of soil structure and
water holding capacity, resulting in a fragile soil which is
prone to transportation by wind and rain. The dust bowls
of the Midwest of the USA are a spectacular example of
this effect. Thus the adoption of the organo-zeolitic-soil
system, in countries that benefit from the presence of economic
deposits of zeolitic tuff, is a step forward in arable
farming and the phytoremediation of contaminated land
as well as the production of fuel crops on such land and
the improvement of marginal farmland.

Author(s): Peter J LeggoTamendjari

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