NEW ORGANIC FERTILIZER BASED ON LIGNITE AND CHICKEN MANURE

Abstract

Organic fertilizers are a powerful reserve for increasing soil fertility, and therefore crop productivity. Due to the reduction in the number of animals in Ukraine, only 0.5 tons of organic matter are applied per 1 hectare with a demand of 10–12 tons. Therefore, it is important to expand the range of organic substances for application, especially in situations of constant growth in prices for mineral fertilizers due to rising energy costs. Lignite is a type of brown coal containing the inclusion of poorly decomposable wood residues (the so-called soft brown coal). Since ancient times, it has been used as an organic fertilizer that improves the structure of the soil, contains trace elements, and has a positive effect on the biological synthesis of plants. Lignite is enriched with chicken droppings – this is a newly created organic fertilizer "Organic МАХ" which acquires better characteristics and provides high efficiency. Due to the improvement of the organic part of the fertilizer, the processes of vital activity in the soil are enriched, a positive effect on plant growth is manifested and the effect of harmful soil microorganisms is limited. In the production of organic fertilizer "Organic МАХ," plant products and animal or bird waste are mixed – lignite (brown coal) is ground to a fraction of 0–5 mm and mixed with chicken droppings with humidity up to 60% in an amount of 20%, 30%, 40% or 50% of the amount of fertilizer. Enrichment of lignite with chicken droppings provides growth of organic matter up to 46.6% with the addition of 20% chicken droppings and up to 49.3% with the content of 30 percent droppings; high content of total nitrogen 13.4–14.5 kg in each ton; a significant increase in total phosphorus to 4.7 kg per ton of fertilizer with the addition of 20% chicken droppings, and at 30% droppings to 6.2 kg per ton; a noticeable increase in total potassium content from 20 percent of chicken droppings to 3.7 kg/t, and from 30% of droppings to 4.2 kg in one ton of fertilizer. There is also a decrease in the high acidity of natural lignite (which is its disadvantage) from strongly acidic to medium acidic and weakly acidic, respectively. Therefore, when applying it on acidic soils, it is necessary to first carry out liming. The organic fertilizer of the above composition is used depending on the quality of the soil, for which it is necessary to conduct preliminary agrochemical analyses, and the grown crop. The application of "Organic МАХ" provides an effective restoration of the fertility of soils depleted by intensive exploitation or initially poor in humus, due to which the amount of mineral fertilizers applied to the soil can be reduced, which has an economic and environmental protection effect.