The fertilizer consists of organic matter, magnesium, nitrogen, sulfur and auxiliary potassium and phosphorus. Photo: Anastasiya Mavrenkova.
Organomin, a complex organomineral fertilizer, created under the Ural Interregional Scientific and Educational Center “Advanced Production Technologies and Materials» (UIREC), has been patented. This will open up new possibilities for large-scale use of the fertilizer and will contribute to Russia’s food security. The project is part of a cooperation agreement between Nika PetroTech (member of UIREC) and Ural Federal University.
“The patent received is important because it helps to utilize waste from poultry and livestock farms,” says Konstantin Lukyashin, technical expert at Nika PetroTech. “A patent allows you to protect the intellectual right to an invention and use it with ease. In our case, this is a technology for decontaminating livestock or poultry waste and, at the same time, obtaining an organomineral complex fertilizer that will be in demand by farmers.”
According to Konstantin Lukyashin, the patent will form the basis for the creation of a new plant after its effectiveness is proven not only in theory, but also in practice. The effectiveness of the product was tested by botanists from UrFU. In the summer of 2022, they planted four variants of control samples of plants (oats and amaranth) in the botanical garden of UrFU: without any fertilizer, with two types of the new fertilizer, and with the most commonly used one.
“Last year’s research showed that with the new fertilizer, the number of grains in the inflorescence increased by 19.7%. There was also a 17% increase in generative shoots. These are good indicators for a fertilizer, given that the amount of rainfall in July and August 2022 was below the annual average of 88 % and 69 %, respectively. The lack of precipitation in July and August could have greatly affected the yield,” says Anna Batekhtina, senior researcher at the laboratory of regenerative ecology at Ural Federal University.
This year, the research will continue to obtain additional data on the effectiveness of fertilizers. Botanists will check the effect of intensive irrigation on the yield of the same crops: sowing oats and scarlet amaranth.
The fertilizer consists of carbon, magnesium, nitrogen, sulfur, and auxiliary potassium and phosphorus. It is safe for soil and crops.
“The organic-mineral fertilizer we use has all the positive properties of both organic and mineral components,” says Konstantin Lukyashin. – It is also important that “Organomin” can be useful for other crops. We just need to conduct research and choose the optimal concentrations for its application to the soil, taking into account, of course—besides the condition of the soil—the region where the crop grows, and whether the soil is closed or open.
Lukjashin is confident in the prospects of mass introduction of Organomin because both the raw material base and technology, according to the patent, are completely domestic. The raw material for the fertilizer is sufficiently present in the country.
“On average, one poultry farm, and there are over 500 of them in the country, produces about 100 tons of manure per day (which is more than 18 million tons per year from all poultry farms), which must somehow be utilized. In our case, we solve two problems simultaneously: we utilize waste from poultry farms and create a safe complex organomineral fertilizer. The mass introduction of organomineral fertilizer will make it affordable for all farmers of the country from an economic point of view, because it can be produced in very large quantities,” said Konstantin Lukyashin.
Nika PetroTech is a member of the Ural Interregional Research a