Current Situation and Trend of Bio-organic Fertilizer Development in China

Anhui Xinyuan Packaging Technology Co., Ltd. Today

Bio-organic fertilizer refers to a kind of fertilizer with both microbial fertilizer and organic fertilizer effects, which is composed of specific functional microorganisms and organic materials, mainly from animal and plant residues (such as animal manure, crop straw, etc.) and which are treated harmlessly and matured. Bio-organic fertilizer is of great significance to the realization of resource-saving and environment-friendly society, and is an inevitable choice for the realization of sustainable agricultural development.

1. Research background of bio-organic fertilizer

1.1 Current Situation of Fertilizer Industry in China

Fertilizer is an important means of agricultural production, the sustainable and stable development of agriculture is inseparable from fertilizer. Chemical fertilizer is widely used in production because of its abundant available nutrients and remarkable yield increase effect. At present, China's fertilizer production and use rank first in the world. In terms of production, except potassium chloride, other main chemical fertilizer varieties have been in surplus. In terms of application, there are some problems, such as unreasonable structure of fertilizer use, excessive application and low utilization rate, which are manifested in the fact that farmers only pay attention to the use of chemical fertilizer in the production process, while they despise organic fertilizer and microbial fertilizer. In order to obtain better fertilizer efficiency, they blindly increase the application of chemical fertilizer.

At present, the amount of chemical fertilizer applied to crops in the world is 120 kg/hm2, while the amount of chemical fertilizer applied to crops in China is 328.5 kg/hm2, which is much higher than the world average level. The excessive and blind application of chemical fertilizers has brought about a series of problems, such as cost increase, environmental pollution, soil degradation and so on.

Soil is the most important natural resource in a country. Shen Qirong believed that the basic soil fertility was the key factor to realize the crop yield potential. In terms of the average yield increasing effect of chemical fertilizer per kg on different crops, in 1975, it was 25 kg grain/kg fertilizer, 15 kg oil/kg fertilizer, 10 kg cotton/kg fertilizer; in 2008, it was 8-9 kg grain/kg fertilizer, 6-7 kg oil/kg fertilizer and 5-6 kg cotton/kg fertilizer. The sharp decline in fertilizer remuneration shows that with the long-term use of fertilizers, the basic soil fertility is gradually weakening, and the weakening of the basic soil fertility has become an important limiting factor affecting the sustainable development of agriculture and the high and stable yield of crops in China.

With the gradual improvement of people's awareness of environmental problems and soil recycling, traditional chemical fertilizers can not meet the needs of agricultural development. In order to achieve sustainable development of agricultural products, it is imperative to develop high-efficiency environmental protection fertilizers.

1.2 Basic Situation of Agricultural Waste in China

Agricultural waste refers to the organic substances discarded in the whole agricultural production process, mainly including crop straw and animal manure. China is a big agricultural country with a huge amount of agricultural waste. These wastes are not only valuable resources, but also serious sources of pollution. If they are not properly treated into the environment, they will cause environmental pollution and ecological deterioration.

China is one of the countries with the most abundant straw resources. According to experts'estimates, more than 900 million tons of straw can be produced every year. However, the utilization rate of straw resources is not high, about 20% of straw rots or burns every year, which not only causes waste of resources, but also causes great harm to the environment.

With the rapid development of animal husbandry in China, the production of animal manure is also increasing rapidly. The research shows that the production of livestock and poultry manure in China exceeded 1.4 billion tons in 1980 and 2.121 billion tons in 2011. It is expected to reach 2.875 billion tons and 3.743 billion tons by 2020 and 2030, respectively. However, at this stage, the vast majority of livestock and poultry manure is not fully utilized. The investigation shows that the technology and capacity of innocuous treatment of animal manure in large livestock and poultry farms in China are insufficient at present, and the production cost of treating manure and waste liquid is not expected to increase subjectively. As a result, most of the animal manure and wastewater produced in farms are discharged directly, which has brought great negative impact on the environment and threatened human safety and health.

Therefore, it is of great significance for the sustainable development of China's agriculture to actively explore the ways of agricultural waste resource utilization to turn its harm into benefit and waste into treasure.

1.3 Bio-organic Fertilizer is the Inevitable Choice of Agricultural Sustainable Development

Based on the current situation of fertilizer use and agricultural waste, it has become a hot spot of agricultural research at home and abroad to actively seek efficient and environmentally friendly fertilizer substitutes and actively explore ways of agricultural waste resource utilization. In this context, bio-organic fertilizer, with its unique advantages, has built a bridge for the growth of agricultural waste and crops, and opened up a sustainable development path with "agricultural waste-bio-organic fertilizer-crops" as the recycling mode.

Firstly, the application of bio-organic fertilizer is an important way to improve the basic soil fertility and the quality of agricultural products. The original intention of bio-organic fertilizer research and production is to integrate the advantages of organic fertilizer and bio-fertilizer. It not only helps to improve crop yield, but also fertilizes soil, regulates soil micro-ecological balance, reduces the amount of inorganic fertilizer, and fundamentally improves the quality of agricultural products, which is in line with the direction of sustainable agricultural development and green agricultural production in China.

Secondly, the production of bio-organic fertilizer is an important means of agricultural waste resource utilization. Agricultural wastes contain abundant nutrients and organic nutrients necessary for crop growth. They are utilized as bio-organic fertilizers. Organic materials are mineralized, humified and harmless by microorganisms, so that they can be absorbed and utilized by crops. It can not only alleviate the pressure of agricultural wastes on the environment, but also turn wastes into treasures and obtain certain economic benefits.

In summary, bio-organic fertilizer as a high-yield fertilizer

2. Advantages and mechanism of bio organic fertilizer

2.1 Advantages of Bio-organic Fertilizer

Bioorganic fertilizer is a kind of organic fertilizer containing a large number of functional microorganisms, which is made by adding functional microbial agents to the decomposed materials for secondary fermentation on the basis of composting. Compared with other fertilizers, it has the advantages of fertilizing soil and improving product quality.

Compared with chemical fertilizer, bio-organic fertilizer has more complete nutrient elements. Long-term use of bio-organic fertilizer can effectively improve soil, regulate soil and Rhizosphere micro-ecological balance, improve crop resistance to diseases and pests, and improve product quality.

Compared with farm manure, the basic advantage of bio-organic fertilizer is that the functional bacteria in bio-organic fertilizer have specific effects on improving soil fertility and promoting crop growth, while farm manure is produced by natural fermentation and does not have the special effect of dominant functional bacteria.

Compared with Bio-bacterial fertilizer, bio-organic fertilizer contains functional bacteria and organic matter. In addition to improving soil, organic matter itself is the environment in which functional bacteria live. When applied to soil, functional bacteria colonize easily and play a role; while Bio-bacterial fertilizer only contains functional bacteria, and the functional bacteria may not be suitable for some soil environment, and can not survive or play a role. On the other hand, bio-organic fertilizer is cheaper than Bio-bacterial fertilizer.

2.2 Mechanism of Bio-organic Fertilizer

2.2.1 Function of Fermentation Bacteria and Functional Bacteria

After applying bio-organic fertilizer to crops, fermentation bacteria and functional bacteria multiplied in large quantities, which had significant effects on improving soil, promoting crop growth and reducing crop diseases. The main reasons are as follows:

1. Beneficial microorganisms in fertilizers can colonize and form dominant populations in soil, inhibit the growth and reproduction of other harmful microorganisms, and even antagonize some pathogenic microorganisms in order to reduce their chances of infecting crop rhizosphere.

2. Functional bacteria play an effective role in improving soil fertility, such as the application of fertilizers containing nitrogen-fixing microorganisms, which can increase the source of nitrogen in the soil; the application of fertilizers containing phosphorus and potassium-dissolving microorganisms, in which microorganisms can decompose insoluble phosphorus and potassium in the soil, so that crops can absorb and utilize them.

3. Many microbial strains in fertilizers can produce metabolites beneficial to crops in the process of growth and reproduction, which can stimulate crop growth and enhance disease resistance and stress resistance of crops.

Effects of 2.2.2 Physiological Active Substances

Bio-organic fertilizer is rich in many physiological active substances, such as vitamins, amino acids, nucleic acids, indole acetic acid, gibberellin and so on. It can stimulate the growth of crop roots, improve the photosynthesis of crops, and make the root system develop and grow strong. For example, various organic acids and enzymes can decompose and transform various complex organic substances and rapidly activate soil nutrients. It can increase the effective nutrients for crops to absorb and utilize, such as antibiotics, which can improve the disease resistance of crops.

2.2.3 Function of Organic and Inorganic Nutrients

Bioorganic fertilizer contains not only amino acid, protein, sugar, fat and other organic components, but also N, P, K, medium elements (Ca, Mg, S, etc.) and trace elements (Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn, Mo, etc.) which are beneficial to crop growth. These nutrients not only can be directly absorbed and utilized by crops, but also can effectively improve soil fertility, water retention, buffer and aeration conditions, and provide a good growth environment for crops.

3. Development status of bio-organic fertilizer

3.1 Status of Bio-organic Fertilizer Production

3.1.1 Manufacturing Enterprises

Professor Shen Qirong of Nanjing Agricultural University mentioned in an interview program at the end of 2014 that there are more than 300 enterprises of bio-fertilizer or bio-organic fertilizer in China, with 2058 registered products, and the average annual production of each enterprise is small. Most of them have no production conditions of bacteria, and the production conditions, technological level and production process of each manufacturer are different, and the product quality is uneven.

3.1.2 Strains for Production

The quality of bio-organic fertilizer mainly depends on the strength of probiotics and the number of live bacteria. At present, the production of bio-organic fertilizer usually uses strains with strong activity and resistance to high temperature, high osmotic pressure, drought and other stresses. In the production process, the interaction of various microbial agents should be considered, and they can not be mixed at will. According to the role of microorganisms in production, they can be divided into fermentation bacteria and functional bacteria. Fermentation bacteria are mostly composed of complex strains, which can promote material decomposition, decomposition and deodorization. Commonly used strains are yeast, photosynthetic bacteria, lactic acid bacteria, actinomycetes, penicillium, trichoderma, Rhizopus and so on. Functional bacteria refer to microorganisms that can exert specific fertilizer effects in products, mainly nitrogen-fixing bacteria, phosphorus-solubilizing bacteria and silicate bacteria, which are added after material is ripe.

3.1.3 Production Technology

The production of bio-organic fertilizer mainly includes the process of fermentation bacteria promoting material maturation, the process of secondary fermentation by adding functional bacteria and the process of product processing. Material maturation through fermentation is the key link of the whole production. In the fermentation maturation stage, most enterprises adopt tank stacking fermentation method. Moisture, C/N ratio, temperature, pH, ventilation and other process parameters directly affect the degree of material maturity and fermentation cycle. When the material is completely decomposed, the compound functional bacteria such as nitrogen fixing bacteria, phosphorus dissolving bacteria and potassium dissolving bacteria are added for secondary fermentation. The number of beneficial living bacteria in the product is increased by controlling the fermentation conditions, so as to enhance the efficiency of bio-organic fertilizer. After fermentation, in order to improve the commerciality of products and ensure the survival rate of beneficial microorganisms in products, the low temperature drying process after disc granulation is preferred.

3.2 Application Status of Bio-organic Fertilizer

At present, domestic growers are not very enthusiastic about applying bio-organic fertilizer, and the utilization rate of bio-organic fertilizer is relatively low. It is mainly applied on cash crops with high added value, such as vegetables, fruits, Chinese herbal medicine and tobacco. However, with the improvement of people's consumption level and safety consciousness, the demand for green organic agricultural products is increasing day by day. Bioorganic fertilizer will become an inevitable choice for agricultural production.

At present, the application of bio-organic fertilizer in some ecological demonstration zones, green and organic agricultural products bases has achieved good results, which will play a good role in the promotion and application of bio-organic fertilizer in the future.

3.2.1 Effect of Bio-organic Fertilizer on Crop Yield

Compared with the application of equivalent chemical fertilizer, the application of bio-organic fertilizer could increase the yield of watermelon, tomato, Chinese cabbage and cabbage by 25.5%, 35.9%, 41.6% and 50.6% respectively, reaching a very significant level, and also had a significant effect on pepper, cauliflower, cotton and rice (Table 1). According to Xia Biao's report, compared with the application of equivalent diammonium phosphate, the application of Ams bio-organic fertilizer could increase peanut yield by 33%.

3.2.2 Effects of Bio-organic Fertilizer on Crop Quality

Compared with chemical fertilizer alone, the application of bio-organic fertilizer could significantly increase the diameter and fruit quality of Chinese cabbage and watermelon, improve the quality of tomato and pepper, and increase the content of vitamin C and reducing sugar in tomato and pepper. By studying the effects of different fertilization methods on the quality of lettuce, it was found that the application of Ams bio-organic fertilizer could increase the content of vitamin C, decrease the total acid and increase the ratio of sugar to acid in lettuce. At the same time, it could significantly reduce the nitrate content which was prone to cancer (Table 2), which played an important role in improving the taste of lettuce and improving the safety of products.

3.2.3 Effect of Bio-organic Fertilizer on Soil-borne Diseases

A large number of studies at home and abroad show that the application of bio-organic fertilizer can effectively control soil-borne diseases. Bio-organic fertilizer made from Bacillus polymyxa, which has antagonistic effect on Fusarium wilt, has a field control effect of 73%. Bio-fertilizers BIO-36 and BIO-23 for eggplant made of Bacillus subtilis II-36 and I-23 were tested by pot experiment. The results showed that both fertilizers could effectively inhibit bacterial wilt of eggplant, and the disease control rates were 96% and 91%, respectively. At present, bio-organic fertilizer is very effective in controlling soil-borne diseases of vegetables, fruits, tobacco and other crops. It is an important and effective way to control soil-borne diseases.

4. Development Trend of Bio-organic Fertilizer

4.1 Development Strategy

At present, countries all over the world pay great attention to the sustainable development of agriculture, and constantly increase the development, production and application of bio-organic fertilizer. Although China's bio-organic fertilizer industry has developed to a certain extent, due to various reasons, there are still some shortcomings and areas to be improved urgently. In the future, the development of bio-organic fertilizer in China still needs to make efforts in the following three aspects.

4.1.1 Improve product quality

In order to improve the quality of bio-organic fertilizer, we should start from three aspects: strain selection, process optimization and new product development.

In the aspect of strain breeding, we should increase the exploitation and utilization of agricultural microbial strain resources with special functions such as promoting root growth, transforming soil nutrients, preventing and controlling soil-borne diseases, reducing and passivating toxic and harmful substances in rhizosphere. In addition, in order to maintain high biological activity in the process of processing, transportation and storage, the application of Bacillus with strong stress resistance should be strengthened.

In the aspect of process optimization, different solid organic waste composting technologies and processes are developed and established. According to different sources of waste, supporting processes and technologies are established to meet the changing needs of organic waste resource utilization industry. At the same time, the process parameters are optimized to improve product quality, shorten production cycle and reduce production costs.

In the development of new products, we should strengthen innovation according to the actual production situation. Professor Shen Qirong mentioned at the 2014 Shandong Microbial Fertilizer Development Summit Forum that in the future, the research and development productivity of the new fertilizer product, all-round bio-organic fertilizer, should be strengthened. Full-element bio-organic fertilizer refers to a new type of bio-organic fertilizer which integrates organic fertilizer, chemical fertilizer (including quick-acting fertilizer, controlled slow-release fertilizer, stable fertilizer) and biological fertilizer. Simply put, it is fertilizer containing inorganic nutrients, functional bacteria and organic matter. It can not only provide enough nutrients for crops in the current season, but also increase beneficial bacteria and organic matter in the soil, improve the microbial flora in the soil, so that the original soil with diseases and slow nutrient conversion can gradually become healthy soil and fast nutrient conversion soil. In the future, it is necessary to strengthen the research and development of the technology and technology of new all-component bio-organic fertilizer, and produce new all-component bio-organic fertilizer products suitable for different soils, crops and climatic conditions.

4.1.2 Standardizing Product Management

At present, there are many kinds of bio-organic fertilizer products on the market, with rich and varied packaging and uneven quality. In order to solve these problems, the relevant industry management departments should strengthen the detection and supervision of products. For counterfeiting and shoddy behavior in the market, we must crack down severely and punish severely.

4.1.3 Strengthen the Promotion

The government, enterprises and relevant agricultural technology departments should work together to strengthen the propaganda and promotion of bio-organic fertilizer. Through demonstration, explanation and on-site guidance, the application effect of bio-organic fertilizer can be displayed to farmers, so that farmers can fundamentally understand the economic and ecological benefits of bio-organic fertilizer and improve their enthusiasm for using bio-organic fertilizer.

4.2 outlook

The development and application of bio-organic fertilizer can not only create conditions for the development of green agriculture and organic agriculture, but also realize the resource utilization of organic wastes. It has high economic, ecological and social benefits, and is a powerful guarantee for the sustainable development of agriculture. In the future, bio-organic fertilizer will become the focus of fertilizer industry production and agricultural consumption, with broad prospects for development.