Human urine can help grow bumper tomato crops that can be eaten safely, says a new study.Surendra Pradhan, an environmental biology researcher at the University of Kuopio, Finland, and colleagues gave potted tomato plants one of three treatments: mineral fertilizer, urine and wood ash, or urine only.
Yields for plants fertilized with urine, rich in nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, quadrupled and matched those of mineral-fertilized plants. The urine-fertilized tomatoes also contained more protein and were safe for human consumption.
"This is a very simple technology. Urine can be collected in a urine-diverting toilet or it can be collected in a separate jerry can [from] an ordinary, pre-existing toilet," said Pradhan.
"If wood ash is available, this can be use as a supplement of phosphorus, potassium and other nutrients," Pradhan added.
He says that the method is a free alternative to expensive mineral fertilizer, which is not easily available in remote or hilly areas.
A pilot programme based on the research will be launched in Nepal in November, says Pradhan, who is of Nepalese origin.
But Hn. J on, eco-agriculture and sanitation system technology expert at the Stockholm Environment Institute in Sweden says, "the amount [of urine] that can be collected from a person or a family is fairly small".
"[The technique] is of great value to a subsistence farmer but does not suffice for even a medium-scale cash-crop farm," said J?on.
He adds that to fertilize larger areas, many urine-diverting toilets would have to be linked up to a good transportation system.
Their research was published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
IANS
9 comments:
Wow! I wonder if the thousands of home tomato growers ever realised this...Duh!! Er Yeah I think so.. Like since I was an infant I've known this. Along with just about anyone I have had a conversation with about tomatoes.
I wonder if the scientists tested the availability of pregnant urine as well---it's known that pregnant urine causes plants to grow more.
A few years ago my high school had a hepatitis scare in the strawberries or tomatoes that they believed was from the migrant workers peeing in the fields.
Urine from people taking prescription drugs might be harmful.
Looking for a shredder that will handle junkmail, and cardboard, so I can make urine soaked mulch for my veggie garden, Did this for years with sawdust, can't get the sawdust anymore! Wood chips are too big and store botten chips too expensive!
To be accepted as a scientific fact it has to be tested under a strict scientific method. You can't go to a growers tomato party and just say everything is a fact because everyone else says it. You need a control as well when your testing it.
Since we humans are "on top of the food chain" that does mean that more heavy metals and other bad stuff is more concentrated in our urine/feces? So as a result the plants will have more of those bad stuff?
Many institutions limit access to their online information. Making this information available will be an asset to all.
This kind of blog always useful for blog readers, it helps people during research. your post is one of the same for blog readers.
Post a Comment