In order for a plant to grow and thrive, it requires Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. The former three are easily available from air, water and other sources, while the latter three are hard to come by. These nutrients are often found decay of plants or living organisms, while nitrogen is only available by recycling nitrogen from dead to living plants. That’s where fertilizers come into the picture, these provide the necessary nutrients in order to make the plants strong and thrive better.
In my opinion, the simplest way to distinguish between compost and fertilizer is to remember this: Compost feeds the soil and fertilizer feeds the plants. Fertilizer adds to the soil's nutrient supply, but instead of feeding the soil food web, the ingredients in fertilizers are intended to meet the needs of fast-growing plants.
What do you think about the differences between compost and fertilizers? Which one is better?
Dear Ata Rafiee,
Please have a look this PDF attachment for the answer to your query.
Good luck
The major differences between compost and fertilizers are:
1. Compost are biological origin while fertilizers are chemical origin
2. The nutrient content of fertilizers are much higher than the compost
3. Compost are rich in microbes and improves soil biological activity
4. Compost helps in moisture retention capacity of soils and helps in nutrient mobilization
5. Compost is a key ingredient of organic farming
First of all, I disagree with the statement that hydrogen and carbon is available from air.
Now coming to compost vs fertilizer.
a) Compost is also a type of fertilizer which is of organic origin. It also contains all the nutrients which are there in chemical or synthetic fertilizers.
b) Chemical fertilizers are associated with primarily NPK i.e. Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Kalium (aka Pottasium).
c) Compost contains several microbes which can help in nitrogen fixation and let the plants get nitrogen via them. So compost is not food for soil, it is feed for plant also.
d) Compost is living fertiliser where as Chemical Fertilizers are dead.
e) I agree with the comments by Dr. J.C. Tarafdar.
Dear Prof. Singh
I do appreciate you so much for your time and your consideration.
Regards,
Ata
Dear Dr. Tarafdar
Thank you so much for your valuable comments.
There are also another advantages which consider by compost:
- Helps plants absorb nutrients already in your soil and provides some extra nutrients too.
- Makes clay soils more airy and helps them drain better.
- Gradually releases nutrients
- Allows roots to spread out widely, preventing erosion by enhancing soil structure
- Reduce watering needs by improving water retention in the soil
...
Regards,
Ata
Dear Biswajit
First of all, I would like to thank you for your contribution.
In a simple way, In a process called photosynthesis, plants use energy from the sun to change carbon dioxide (CO2 - carbon and oxygen) and water (H2O- hydrogen and oxygen) into into a sugar called glucose using sunlight energy. These are the plant's food.
When plants use carbon dioxide and water to make glucose there is a lot of oxygen left over. Here is a word equation:
Light
Carbon Dioxide + Water → Glucose + Oxygen
Chlorophyll
Carbon dioxide and water are inorganic chemicals, whereas glucose is an organic chemical. Plants need energy to convert carbon dioxide and water into glucose; this energy comes from sunlight. Plants can also use artificial light providing that it contains the right frequencies (colors). Light energy is trapped by a green chemical called chlorophyll. In photosynthesis, light energy is converted into chemical energy. When animals and plants respire, the chemical energy in glucose can be converted into other forms of energy e.g. kinetic energy.
By the way, I disagree with your "d" comments which indicate that "compost is living fertilizer where as Chemical Fertilizers are dead". It couldn't be in a scientific manner.
Hope these are helpful
Regards,
Ata
Dear Ata Rafiee;
Thanks alot for this question. I agree with the answers of Dr. J. C. Tarafdar whic is detailed by Dr. Biswajit Debnath.
With my best regards!
Dr. Adel OUESLATI
Dear Ata Rafiee,
I hope you are doing fine.
Please see my following research group work on compost production in comparison to synthetic fertilizers.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317339551_Resource_recovery_of_food_waste_through_continuous_thermophilic_in-vessel_composting
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317673040_Optimization_of_Food_Waste_Compost_with_the_Use_of_Biochar
Have a wonderful day.
with regards,
Nizami
Article Resource recovery of food waste through continuous thermophi...
Article Optimization of Food Waste Compost with the Use of Biochar
Dear Dr. Nizami
Thank you for sharing your interesting work.
Good luck with your research,
Ata
Dear Adel Oueslati
Thank you for your contribution.
I hope that this discussion could be helpful for all the researchers who are involved in the field of solid waste management.
Regards,
Ata
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