organic material which contains a pH of 6.5-7.5, moisture below 25 % and a C/N ratio of 10 - 15 is optimum for soil fertility.

But i want the names of the organic material................

i think you need to know what type of fertility you are looking, it is chemical fertility, physical or biological. which type of soil do you want to improve, the mineralogy of you soil is a key point. what type of clay to you have on you soil? It is a low activity clay on your soil as oxisols or ferrasols, if that is the case the chemical fertility is poor then you expect you organic material to bring more nutrients in addition to water retention capacity. some organic material are effective in improving soil pH as biochar, some rich in nutrients as poultry manure, some for improve biological activity which is also an important parameter for soil fertility.

The choice of material for organic fertilizer, its availability for soil fertility, relative to its nature of the material and the purpose of the crop nutrition, all determine the soil fertility formulation of the soil amendments.These constitute what you call best organic material for soil fertility. First, know the analytic of the soil degradation.

-Ayodele Otaiku

There is no one best single material from a generic crop perspective since different crops have different nutrient needs. So selection of individual amendments such as cottonseed meal, alfalfa meal, corn meal, seaweed and/or kelp meal, hay, leaves, grazing animal manures, etc. can be used to meet a variety of plant nutrition objectives. But NONE of such amendments provide ANY DIRECT nutritive effect since roots cannot utilize such, in presented form.

Changing the structure (molecular form) of such amendments, thereby making them accessible to plant roots as a food source is accomplished by means of enzymatic liquification or by microbial decomposition (or both). A combination of human gut enzymes and acids - in liquid form and in proper proportion applied to such amendments in either an aerobic or anaerobic environment, will speed the microbial process. An anaerobic artificial 'digestion' process (such as using Dr. Higa's EM fermentation technology) is sometimes used, but since a crop rhizosphere is an aerobic environment, general consensus recommends aerobic conditions be utilized for best results to eliminate the need for a lengthy anaerobic-to-aerobic microbial re-conversion process.

The difficulty with regard to an aerobic microbial decomposition process is in obtaining a highly-concentrated source of the full soil microbiological community to perform the decomposition process to attain nutrient-cycling - strictly an aerobic process and since the speed and quality of aerobic microbial decomposition depends on the concentration of microbiology applied to the process - the higher a concentration used, the better and faster.

A relatively new breakthrough in advancement of the old "compost tea" technology (that has never been accepted by the scientific community due to its lack of consistency of replication) is called Liquid Microbial Concentrate (LMC) that is capable of producing the full community of aerobic soil microbiology in 24 hours. A 48-hour brew time attains a bacterial / protozoan population, while a 72-hour brew can exceed ten to the 25th power per ml - much higher than the best compost tea was able to produce, and with a very high consistency of replication. Presently being prepared for presentation to the USDA as a viable product for approval for use by the global agricultural industry.

So general consensus nowadays is to increase soil nutrient cycling by means of liquid application, which is less expensive than adding a variety of solid amendments and waiting for in-soil biology to process amendments into plant food.

The humic acids produced by the soil biological community are known to play a part in the nutrient-cycling process, but science does not yet know how to qualify or quantify that process. What we do know is that humic acids play a role in certain aspects such as nutrient retention, mineral chelation, etc. So commonly, when liquid compost is applied, humic and refined fulvic acids are added as Fortifiers.

Soil fertility by organic means is a matter of microbial nutrient cycling (saprophytic process of turning dead organic material into organic matter with an increasing level of amphorous humus content). Adding organic material to soil does not increase soil fertility per se - because it requires that material to be broken down (decomposed) by the full community of saprophytic microorganisms (primarily aerobic) by their enzymatic activity.

There is one COMBINATION of organic materials that is highly effective in raising soil fertility in sand, silt or clay and ANY percentage combination of each, called COMPOST.

Composting is NOT a natural phenomenon - it is a man-created method of speeding-up nature's saprophytic process. A leaf falling from a tree may take up to a year (or more to decompose sufficiently, whereas that same leaf processed in a QUALITY (non-commercial) composting process (which I have practiced professionally for over 50 years) will only take 12-18 weeks to begin adequate nutrient-cycling function.

Hope this information has been helpful.

organic matter/biomass obtained from dhancha when processed for decomposition before flowering is because it contains high level of nitrogen and pH~ 4

There are variety of organic manures namely Farm Yard Manure, Poultry Manure, Oil cakes, Vermi compost, compost, green manure, green leaf manure etc.,

If your soil is a loamy one with no salinity problem, poultry manure is the best for very poor soil. For average soils, compost and FYM are better to apply.

The purpose of the organic manure is important and there can be no blanket recommendations. If we want to supply N to say rice and have irrigation water to grow a green manure before rice for about 40-45 days then grow Sesbania cannabina (dhaincha). Alternatively take green leaves for direct manuring in soil; the trees can be grown on rice bunds. It is possible to supply alsmost 80 kg N /ha in North India with this method. In South India green manuring with Tephrosia is more common.

Yes, poultry manure or vermicomost will also be good for organic manuring when nutrient supply is the aim, mostly we apply 2t/ha. But more stable products like FYM will be a combination of nutrient supply and improving and stabilizing soil C content. Rates are 5-10 t/ha.

With all the efforts at speeding up composting or microbial cultures for inoculation, if supply of cattle dung is adequate then add it in 1:1 with the crop biomass to be composted, aerobic pile, covered from rains, frequent turnings after 4 weeks, it is possible to get a good compost in 3 months.

Your election depends on soil characteristics, y can recommend you the filter cake, a by-product of cañe sugar industry (If your country obtains sugar from sugar cane crop). This organic fertilizer has good features like to increase organic matter in the soil, besides mantains N, P, S, Ca and micronutrients, has high water content. We have obtain 10-20 t/ha/year of yield over the treatment without filter cake. If you explain wath is your purpose I can give you more elements about other organic material.

the one with the lowest C:N ratio

most of the papers results says that using of FYM, Grean manuring and balance used of fertilizer improve the soil fetility now days using of Humic Acid one of the more prominent technique

Dear Nature Care Fertilizantes

You can use the organic material: Nutriplant, developed for our team of research, more information ([email protected])

Plant and animal resources and their diversity in a given location would decide from the farmer stand point for soil application to feed the soil biota. Organic matter application should aim to feed soil sheltered micro and macro organisms in a given area where as soil fertility improvement is a consequence of providing food for soil living organisms, in the form of organic matter of plant and animal origin. The choice of organic matter should be restricted to local resources on economic consideration to the farmers.

Is advisable to know what kind of culture is and depending on this, know what kind of nutrients are the most important, so prune know what type of organic matter would be most appropriate which could be can be compost, vermicompost, biodegradable municipal waste , green manures, crop residues and animal manure, as in the time of mineralization, organic matter concentrations vary depending on the parent material

Thumb rule is to invariably adopt crop rotation using cereal,pulses,oilseed crops to enrich the soil fertility. As for the organic manures, it is suggested to apply whatever organic materials that are locally available and easily biodegradable in preference to highly resistant lignaceous and fibrous materials. Organic manures listed by Manuel Vallejo are fine except municipal waste which could contain hazardous waste of inorganic origin such as heavy metals and other pollutants. Soil test for microbial load would clearly indicate the magnitude of micro organisms and their diversity in order to confirm the strength of the living phase of the soil and inturn the soil fertility.

Do you have the initial soil quality characterized?

manure of pig is excelent organic fertilicert for crop but You must have care with contamination soil with bacterias and heavy metals. I have experiment in cotton in Argentina and paper in Congress with results

You can try muchroom compost, its very good for all plants. Its a product with peat, and you can fertilise and amendment yoour soil.

C / n ratio of 20 should you choose the organic fertilizers

Good comments

Poultry manure should be very good.

The basic essence of applying organic material to soil as an amendment, is that one applies the corresponding microbiology which Nature has supplied to decompose a given plant or animal material into organic matter, thence into the amphorous result called Humus - which can not be further decomposed by microorganisms, but in such state is hugely responsible for plant growth.

Any given organic material applied in large quantities may not be particularly beneficial to the end purpose. For instance, if the plants being grown prefer a highly bacterial (to fungal) ratio, loading the soil with an amendment which promotes a highly fungal community would have a detrimental affect - and vice-versa.

Point being, that the aggregate C:N and B:F should be considered before using any organic amendment, for the type of crop being grown, because NO organic amendment is available to plants except to the degree that nature's microbiology has already done its enzymatic work

For green manuring - green and succulent plants that contains higher level of nitrogen. All FYM/ composts work well but need to consider how its prepared.

Before addiing organic material into soil we should remember that it should be free from any type heavy metal or anything which is harmful to human being as well as soil health. More chahnces to have hazaordus materials with city waste, swage sludge etc. In my opinion best way to improve soil fertility as well as soil health by green manuring. It is absolutely safe.

First of all know your soil fertility status. Determine problems of you soil if any. Then go for organic material. You may have to add some soil ammending inorganic materials approved for organic farming. Then further proceed for organic means. Determine nitrogen sttaus of your soil. Then apply appropriate type of organic matter in soil.

First check what is present in the soil in total, next what is in a range of availability for plants, bact, or whatwever you are looking for. C/N ratio is one of the most important facts, but nut in total C, but more important in the available fraction. So, try to find out the state of your carbon sources in relation to the state of your microbial flora (bact - fungi). Then check what you want to "digest" or whant you want to grow.

The very objective of organic matter addition to soil is to feed the soil flora and fauna in a balanced way so that quantity and diversitiy of soil micro and macro organisms lead a comfortable life and perform their activities due to which the humus status of soil increases which inturn support higher plant life in a sustained way. It s pertinent to state that soil should not be considered as a dumping ground for indiscriminate addition of organic wastes disregarding the fate of soil biota. The fact that soil is a living system, should never be ignored.

Before adding an organic material in the soil is important to know the characteristics of the material and the climatic conditions of the region where this organic material is added to the soil. In warm regions, such as the soil under tropical conditions, as is the case of Brazilian soils, it’s interesting to add to soil an organic material which is stabilized, a material for slow degradation in the soil, so that under these conditions are not rapidly degraded, thereby to soil under tropical conditions, the organic materials to be added must be rich in humic substances that are stable and will have its effect for a long period in the soil. But for regions where the organic material degradation is slower due to low temperatures, for example, such material as would not be interesting because their degradation would be even lower, and its beneficial effects would be small. As the characteristics of the organic material to be added to the soil, it is important to assess the C / N ratio of this material. Because, if a material with high C / N ratio is added to the soil, can occur immobilization of nitrogen in the soil by microorganisms for degradation this residue and if a organic material with low C/N ratio is added the soil, may result in loss of native soil carbon. Moreover, there are other factors to be observed when adding organic material to the soil, such as the presence of pollutants, pH, electrical conductivity. However, in summary, it is essential to know the organic material to be used by characterization.

Ideally stated, it is always advantageous to feed the earthworms with organic matter which yields castings (excreta of earthworms) and application of these castings termed as vermicastings or vermicompost to soils has significant effect in improving soil physical,chemical and biological properties. This is a value addition to the organic matter whiich also stabilizes the C:N ratio of the organic matter following its conversion to vermicompost.

Not exactly, friends. Including worms o not is not important (excluding size). The impotant thing is the QUALITY of organic matter to add. One very fast way to know that is obviouly the size of the organic particles, but more precisely is to know the C/N ratio of the organic materials, the content in bio-elements (P, Ca, Mg, micro-nutrients, etc.,) and the degree of maduration of the composting process. Organic materials have different behaviour in soil dopending if you add them 'green' or composted; soil reactions can be very different, giving bad or good results according to this (and the C/N ratio of the organic materials added). I need a course of SOM to explain all that..., sorry!

Organic materials such as weeds, crop residues, animal excrements etc that are considered as wastes are bioconverted to yield organic fertilizer for soil application. As such it is not possible to fine tune which organic matter sources are better than others based on moisture, nutrient content and rate of bioconversion etc. After all, it should be left to the discretion of the farmers themselves who are the best judges due to their knowledge on native available organic resources. There is no need to handle a course for anybody to explain these hard realities.

Organic matter that has decomposed to the ratio c / n low, it can be manure, straw, and animal urine is odorless and change shape.

The C:N ratio of 10:1 reflects the stability of organic matter beyond which there would be no further decomposition of organic matter. The ratio becomes dynamic when fresh organic matter is added to a manure pit. The ultimate objective of application of well decomposed organic matter to soils is to increase the humus content of soils which is the end product of organic matter decomposition. Humus status of soils reflects a soil fertility and productivity potential of soils.

The C/N ratio is one of the most important characteristics to measure, of curse the degree of humification of the organic material has to be considered, so the humic acids to fulvic acids ratio is also relevant at this point to get an idea of how advenced the degradation process is (evaluate the E4/E6 ratio). At this point it is also interesting to determine, total acidity and the dissolved organic carbon in the aqueous extracts of the organic material (extractable fulvic acids), among others possible characteristics and properties.

Not exactly Arturo.

In a lot of soils, with dry season, mostly in clayey soils, the fulvics & humic acids are minoritary. Then, these fractions are not indicators at all. More than 80 % of the organic humified substances are not extractable.

AF & AH only are indicators (including their C/N ratio) in poor soils, with a lot of sand, or/and in sites with low temperatures (i.e., with podsolic features).

This aspect is very important, because a lot of people confuse and give relevant importance to the extractable fractions (FA & HA), when in the cultivated, more fertile soils (as the Vertisols from Guanajuato, MX) the amounts extracted is minimum.

Not quite Juan, thanks for the comment, but as general as it is stated the question, many things can apply, of course a lot of info is missing in the request. You mentioned before, the chemically vague concept of maturation, I think is better to offer possibilities to evaluate characteristics and properties that could contribute to the answer, than trying to "offer" a course in SOM, most probably is better to review the organic chemistry concepts of condensation and redox behavior of OM in soil. It is of little help and this is not the point, many deep chemical concepts are needed to study organic materials, than just classify them as green, composted, mature, etc. The content, whether in solid or in the aqueous phase of carboxyl, phenolic, alcoholic and other organic functional groups have to be monitored to follow the edafogenic processes occurring in soils. Even the C/N ratio by itself could be misleading if you do not consider that a mixture of carbonaceous materials with ammonia from animal urine, for instance appears. The quantity of extractable humic and fulvic materials is not the central point at this stage, but the distribution and ratio of both. You are right to mention that the main organic fraction is not extractable, but of course several studies contribute to the chemical, physical or biological characterization of these materials, some of them are carried out with the solid fraction, and some others with extractions , assays, etc. etc.

The question 'Which organic matter is good to improve fertility status of soils' has to be responded from a farmer stand point of view so that the farmers can choose locally available plant and animal resources considered as organic wastes. Soil fertility implies improvement and maintenance of its physical,chemical and biological condition in a sustainable manner. Whereas, the discussion is turning more towards the SOM fractionation, C:N ratio etc which the farmers need not or can not understand. As already stated, bioconversion of organic wastes to vermicompost would increase the efficiency of organic matter in improving the fertility status of soils in a holistic manner.

There is a publication by Palm et al 2001 with a decision guide for use of organics. I think its wise to consider the soil fertility aspects you would want the organic material to solve e.g., N source etc. There are some organic materials which have low N equivalency values and therefore are not the best as N sources.

First, ask whom you want to feed, microbes or higher organisms?

If you want to feed microbes, low molecular weight substances would be best, C/N ratio related to that of the organisms.

If you want to feed nematodes, collemboles or something else in this field, try to find our what is their preferred food, may be microbes? fungi?

So, its not an easy task to find a general answer to your question.

Bioconversion of organic wastes in to an organic manure is a time tested practice all over the world. The choice of organic materials to feed soil sheltered bacteria, fungi, actinomycetes, mycorrhiza, phospohobacteria etc is restricted to local resources.

First of all, any organic residue must be free of biotic contaminants (pathogens) and abiotic contaminants (toxic compounds). Residues originating directly from agriculture are likely to contain pathogens and therefore a proper thermophilic composting is needed to kill the pathogens. This is of relevance only if the organic residue have been obtained at one location and are applied at another location. The effect of composting residues obtained from one location and, after composting, applying it to the same location will be limited because the plant remnants that have not been taken away will also contribute to pathogen abundance.

Toxic compounds are more likely to be present if the residue originates from the (food) processing industry.

Organic residues differ in composition which affects its decomposability. Residues can be decomposed fast or slow. If decomposition is fast, the effect on soil biota is temporary and, for this short time, large, during which many nutrients will become available for plant growth. If decomposability is slow, effects on soil biota is less big but will be maintained for a longer time, nutrients will become available to plants to a limited extent, and organic matter content will be raised for a longer time.

Effects of cause should be evaluated relative to the current soil quality/fertility. If soils have a very low soil organic matter content, than it may be more advantageous to add poorly decomposable types of organic matter. If nitrogen fertilizer is in shortage, manures could be used in stead (and of course nitrogen binding crops like beans). So it depends of the soil and of the local conditions.

Effects depend also on the amount of organic matter applied, of course. When applying large amounts of fresh residue, soilborne pathogens could become suppressed, but there have been described cases where they were stimulated, especially if they can grow on the residues.

Pathogenic organanisms can be suppressed by non-pathogenic (beneficial) organisms by addition of organic matter mixed thoroughly with jaggery (brown sugar) in 100:1 ratio by weight.

Some really practical suggestions by Dr Reddy . Let me add another very interesting part of this whole discussion . We have seen this in crop like citrus. Just iedentify the high yielding trees , take the rhizosphere soil samples and put it within the rootzone of comparatively lesser/weaker trees  coupled with light irrigation , and observe t he  resumption in tree vigor...Such practices,  infact improve the efficacy of organic manures  or even organic residues incorporation into the soil. 

I have just published  book on 'SOIL ORGANIC MATTER' (in Spanish; please visit ; 392 pp.); in this book you can find a long response to your question. Best regards!:

Sujit,

In your particular circumstance as an organic plant nutrient provider (www.naturecarefertilizers.com/), in India, the keyword used in your query is organic "material" (singular), so it seems your question is directed toward a physical material which I assume to 'not be actually living' per se. So my initial answer is: there is no 'ONE' dead 'organic material' that will suit your purpose, because ALL non-living organic materials incorporated into soil must first be decomposed by soil microbes, PRIOR to providing plant nutrients as a result. That is the caveat expanded in the last paragraph of this response.

While all comments provided above have their certain points that apply to a given circumstance and occasion - the simplest answer to: 'what material is best for [to achieve/maximize] soil fertility' is to do it Nature's way - by seeding/growing certain species of COVER CROPS - LIVING ORGANIC MATTER - which then later dies to become PROPERLY-MADE IN-GROUND COMPOST - i.e., via the saprophytic microbiological community exsisting in the soil. Which can also be 'boosted' inexpensively via oxygenated (high % of dissolved oxygen [DO]) water also containing more microbes and inexpensive low-salt (organic and inorganic) plant nutrients. So my basic answer to you is: expand your company product base into cover crop seeds.

Am NOT suggesting to add properly-made compost or brown/green manures to soil in solid form. NO - much too labor/cost intensive. There is a better way - propagating the full microbial community in the soil - via cover crops - which the microbes then turn into plant nutrients.

Am not going into much detail in this forum message - but if interested in learning more - search for: COVER CROPS on the Internet - and email the expert soil/plant microbiologist: [email protected] with Subject: COVER CROPS FOR SOIL FERTILITY to begin a discussion relative to YOUR particular circumstances (his new website is presently offline during major upgrade, but in the meantime, he has re-opened his old site at: www.thesoilguy.com/SG/Home). If you intend to contact TheSoilGuy, get a cup of coffee and read THIS message 2x again before contacting. He is a scientist/researcher, so don't expect 'generic/general' answers to such complex issues. The coffee will help you stay awake while reading his extensive information in a typcal researcher's (redundant) writing style.

The real issue is "Properly-Made NUTRIENTS (by Nature (MICROBES) - not man)". One does not need to understand how Nature's full microbiological synergistic community works during the organic degradation process to use it effectively. Because we do know that rapid propagation of Nature's full saprophytic (google that word) microbiological community (i.e. their enzymes and resultant plant nutrients) is best accomplished within a C:N ratio 'window' of 30:1 - along with air (as % DO) in water.

We also know that the vast majority of microbiology in soil proliferates within the root zone (rhizosphere) of a given plant WHILE THE PLANT IS ALIVE, because the plant's roots produce exudates (google that word) that feed/grow the microbe community - which also performs saprophytic duty later - when the plant is in/on the soil, DEAD.

Which is why planting covercrops nowadays, is touted so strongly by the USDA/NCAT. Different covercrops support different microbe 'sets' - so it's best to plant a variety of cover crops (google) at the same time, in the same location. If root knot nematodes (RKN) are an issue in the soil, plant trap crops such as cereal rye or sudan grass.

The volume of Nature's saprophytic (myco-heterotroph) microbes at work (not dormant) in/on the root/zone area can also be enhanced by simply adding high DO water along with a 'brewed' microbial concentrate and the liquid nutrients needed to feed the highly increased microbial population in the proper C:N ratio. Such liquid plant nutrients are easily be extracted from properly-made NON-COMMERCIAL compost made above-ground in the form of processed leachate.

TheSoilGuy operates a private compost research station in south Texas, USA and is a practicing soil/plant microbiologist, quite familiar with the process of above-ground and in-ground composting operations and the results of propagating plants on maturing compost piles to increase the full microbiological community in the rhizosphere.

There was a time when The SoilGuy was a USCompostingCouncil member - attending USCC 'functions' and spoke at length with USCC scientists and taught 'breakout' sessions as an expert for the State of Texas Alliance for Recycliong (STAR) in attempt to get USCC to recognize the science that determines compost quality - but without success (although the USCC has finally begun suggesting microbial lab analysis of compost). So the vast majority of commercial compost still today, is LOW-quality (indludiing heavy metal concentrations) - easily measured by the toxicity of commercial compost leachate (google: "commercial compost leachate toxicity") which results from initial feedstock contamination, furthered by putrifactive/pathological microbiology allowed to propagate prior to composting (during/after feedstock collection - and to further contaminate the commercial final product which is often 'cured' for an extended period of time - under anaerobic conditions and irrigated with low-quality water.. The same is true of manure piles aged under anaerobic conditions.

Following timely death of the cover crop plant, and thereafter determining the extent of high-quality (plant nutrient producing) compost microbiology in the soil is best determined by direct observation of a soil sample by utilizing a light microscope at 400 power, by a lab tech who knows what they are looking at - and knows how to adjust propagation of the in-ground microbial community to maximize the synergy of it. Many such labs exist - and presumably, also in India. If you locate one, ask TheSoilGuy to send you a sample of his Microbial Starter to lab-compare with the microbiology in your soil samples and given compost samples - then you will understand... with your own eyes.

Yes, there are other ways to measure, such as determining the extent of plant nutrients available in the previous root zones and/or maturity via C:N or CO2/ammonia determination (Solvita method) - but one should remember that compost (in-ground or above-ground) is NEVER STATIC. Its composition changes every minute - so a 'snapshot' at a given time is the best result possible. Three such 'snapshots' over time, are best, to ensure accuracy.

TheSoilGuy promotes his LMC brand of liquid compost product (Liquid Microbial Concentrate) produced under controlled conditions via his Microbial Starter (aged fine-sifted compost+vermicompost) and fully organic Microbial Activator products to produce the highest quality full-community microbial 'set' - and when his Plant & Soil Treatment (PST) is added, the LMC+PST has the capacity to bring even 'dead' product-soil back into commercially profitable plant production (which may require multiple treatments over time when the soil microbial population has been decimated by greedy overuse of synthetic Ag chemicals such as high-salt fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides).

So, there is a caveat to answering your original posting - namely the extent of the existing soil microbiological community in a given soil - to increase soil fertility as Nature intended - to empower plants to thrive - not just survive. More productive for someone to learn how to compost the right way - either in-ground or above-ground (for its leachate & microbiology as a product to sell) - than to waste time/funds using low-grade commercially-produced 'compost' (aged wood chips) for any purpose - especially to increase soil fertility. Or even tilled-in brown or green manures, which still require saprophytic microbes for decomposition of it - before its nutrients become available to plants - again, all based on the strength of the existing synergistic microbiological community in the soil to break it down.