ARTIFICIAL VS NATURAL FERTILISER

ARTIFICIAL FERTILISERS

ADVANTAGES

Artificial fertilizers provide equally sufficient amount of three essential nutirents for crops. Artificial fertilizers also allow farmers to choose fertilizers with higher contents of the nutrients in demand (Chemical fertilizer vs. Organic fertilizer, n.d.).

DISADVANTAGES

Artificial ferilisers usually have high acid content which affects soil ferility (Chemical fertilizer vs. Organic ferilizer, n.d.). Artificially modified fertilizers not only affect the health of the soil but also human health. At the University of Wisconsin, Madison, they discovered the effects of chemical fertilizers on human. They discovered altered immune, endocrine and nervous system functions in mice, as well as influence on children's and fetus's developing neurological, endocrine and immune systems (Understanding the Effects of Chemical Fertilizers, n.d.).

NATURAL FERTILISERS

ADVANTAGES

Adds natural nutrients to soil
Increases soil organic matter
Improves soil structure and tilth
Improves water holding capacity

Reduces soil crusting problems
Reduces erosion from wind and water
Slow and consistent release of nutrients

DISADVANTAGES

The nutrients content of the natural fertilizers are relatively low compared to the artificial fertilizers and the nutrients ratio are unkwon. (Chemical fertilizer vs. Organic fertilizer, n.d.). Also, natural fertilizers contains microorganisms which require certain conditions for the nutrients to be released such as warmth and moisture. Thus, the effectiveness of organic fertilizer is limited seasonally (Julie, n.d.).

However, farm industries have no choice but to used chemical fertilizers as organic fertilizers are often limited and not standardized. Another reason that people taking the human and environmental health risks by using chemical fertilizers is because sufficient level of nutrients cannot be obtained with organic fertilizers. The nutrients which are artificially extracted and refined to different purposes is needed to meet the nutrient level of heavy feeders which are usually vegetable plants.

WOOL AS A FERTILISERS

In some of the researches and experiments, it has been proven that sheep wools can be used as a source of organic fertilizers. Due to its high content of nitrogen, sheep wool pellets could be used as multi-functional fertilizer in vegetable and flower cultivations.

Four sheep wool pellet types and different supplements were tested and compared on different vegetable and flower plants. For the first experiment, Kohlrabi (Brassica oleraceavar. gongylodes L.) and iceberg lettuce (Lactuca sativa var. capitata nidus Jagg.) were cultivated in order to compare the effect of sheep wool pellet and ricinus wholemeal as a organic and mineral fertilizers respectively. n cultivation of iceberg lettuce, the best results in all quantitative and qualitative parameters were obtained when using wool pellets as a fertiliser. In kohlrabi, however, the yield in the treatment with pellets was up to 50% lower than with mineral or other organic fertilisers.

In flower pot cultivation, different amounts of wool pellets were investigated with poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima Willd.). In poinsettia pot cultivation, the addition of 1, 2, 5, and 10 g pellets L-substrate resulted in a correlation between pellet concentration and plant development.

Based on analyses of the experimental result, sheep wool pellets can, for some plant cultures, successfully substitute mineral and chemical fertilisers (Böhme, Pinker, Grüneberg, & Herfort, n.d.).