Fungus-boosted waste fertilizer holds nutrients, doubles seed sprouting
Kiruba N JM, Sojka M, Fotopoulos V, Saeid A
Soil Health
If you compost or amend your garden beds, this points to a trick that keeps phosphorus and potassium in the soil where roots can use them instead of washing away in the next rain.
Researchers took a fertilizer made from recycled sewage ash and fish scraps and added a special fungus to it, then tested how well it held onto nutrients when water ran through soil columns. The fungus-boosted mix lost way less phosphorus, potassium, and sodium to leaching, and seeds planted in it sprouted 100% of the time compared to just half or two-thirds in the other mixes. It's an early sign that pairing waste-based fertilizers with the right fungus could make recycled nutrients both safer for waterways and better for plants.
Key Findings
Fungal bioaugmentation reduced cumulative leaching losses of phosphorus by 35.0%, potassium by 41.1%, and sodium by 44.2% over a four-week soil column trial.
The combined fungal-waste treatment achieved 100% seed germination, compared to about 67% for soil-only, 50% for waste-only, and 75% for fungi-only treatments, alongside higher seedling vigor and biomass.
Heavy metal release also dropped sharply with fungal treatment, with cadmium down 61.8% and copper down 83.8%, while nickel and chromium showed mixed mobilization patterns needing further formulation tuning.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Adding a beneficial fungus to a fertilizer made from sewage ash and fish meal cut nutrient runoff from soil by up to 44% and doubled seed germination rates, offering a cleaner way to recycle waste into plant food.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Multi-nutrient leaching dynamics and phosphorus speciation in soil columns amended with fungal (Talaromyces adpressus) biomass.
Waste-derived fertilizers can contribute to circular nutrient management when nutrient availability is coupled with reduced leaching. This study evaluated a 1:1 sewage sludge ash (SSA)-fish meal (F...
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