Crustaceans to create a more environmentally friendly fertilizer

The use of biodegradable biopolymers of natural origin as plant fertilizer could represent a sustainable alternative to the usual use of inorganic nitrogen fertilizers that produce negative consequences for the environment.

So they believe researchers at the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM), in collaboration with the University of Hamburg, have developed a method of obtaining a biocomposite from the chitin exoskeletons of crustaceans and insects, whose use in farming plants has proven very efficiently increase the growth thereof.

Because it is a biodegradable, insoluble and harmless to human health compound, does not pollute the environment, it does not smell and can be used in smaller quantities than others by not lost by evaporation or leaching; so, it is able to recover lost ground biodiversity by overharvesting. In addition, the cost can be up to 10% cheaper than other fertilizers of organic origin, which represents an additional advantage for future implementation.

Source: UPM