Mixtures of Bottom Wood Ash and Meat and Bone Meal as NPK Fertilizer

Abstract

Bottom wood ash (BWA) contains high concentrations of Ca, Mg, K and P, whereas meat and bone meal (MBM) has been found to be a good N and P fertilizer. In a pot experiment on soils with low contents of readily available K and P, the effects of a mixture ofMBMandBWAwere compared with those of mineral NPK (21–4–10), MBM, MBM plus K and Mg mineral fertilizer, and MBM and different types of crushed K- or Mg-rich rock. The mixture of MBM and BWA gave the highest yield of barley, at the same level as mineral for NPK, and significantly higher than for MBM alone. For the yield of spring wheat there was no significant difference between the treatments with BWA or other K-rich additives to MBM, MBM used alone and mineral NPK. Compared with the other treatments, the MBM and BWA mixture significantly increased the pH of the soils by 0.5 units.MBMplusBWArepresents an interesting concept for development of recycled NPK fertilizer of organic origin.