Bacterial communities in soil are as resilient to human urine as synthetic fertilizers—making recycling the bodily fluid as a fertilizer for agricultural crops a viable proposition, according to a new study.
Bacterial communities in soil are as resilient to human urine as synthetic fertilizers—making recycling the bodily fluid as a fertilizer for agricultural crops a viable proposition, according to a new study.
Scientists discovered that, even when applied in high doses, one-year stored urine had little impact on soil bacterial communities and produced minimal change in soil pH and salinity.
However, the researchers did discover that urine fertilization increased the relative amounts of nitrifying and denitrifying groups compared to synthetic fertilizer—implying that more nitrogen oxides could be emitted when fertilizing with urine.
Publishing their findings in Applied Soil Ecology, the team of researchers from University of Birmingham and L’Institut Agro Montpellier, France, call for further studies on the long-term effects of urine fertilization—particularly regarding nitrogen oxide production and soil salinity.
