Ricardo Ortega
The organic material It is a soil component of great importance for the development of crops. This was clear to our grandparents and this is underlined by the new CAP. But, what are really the benefits it brings?
Marta Tardón, manager of the Abotrans factory in Headed Beetle (Segovia), highlights that manure improves the soil structure, its porosity, aeration and water retention capacity.
Las organic amendments They help bind sandy soils together and break up and aerate clayey soils, giving them greater porosity.
In addition, they revitalize the soil and help recover damaged land due to the repeated use of synthetic fertilizers, favoring microbial activity in our land.
What is the ideal date?
It must be taken into account that it is not the same to provide a manure that comes directly from the farm than a composted one, which is the Abotrans option. In the first case, the fertilizer requires a period of several weeks for its decomposition, prior to the nutrients being incorporated into the soil.
Instead, in the case of composted product This decomposition has already been taking place during composting, so that the nutrient units will be used by the plant practically after being provided.
On the other hand, the crop in question must be taken into account.
Vineyard and horticultural
The winegrower recommends making this amendment twice: a first moment can be between the months of November and December, while the second will arrive around the month of March, so that it is incorporated just before sprouting. The plant registers an important demand for nutrients at that moment of its development.
also the crops vegetables, For example, they have a period of great demand in the month of March.
And in the cereal?
Marta Tardón points out that more and more cereal or legume farmers are interested in the fertilizers of animal origin. “The concern arises and they turn to us for information, although they do not always buy the product,” he highlights.
For the cereal, the ideal is to contribute it in summer, thinking about the October and November sowings, when this amendment will be a good companion at the time of birth and implantation of the crop.
By soil types
In the sandy soils organic fertilizer performs an aggregation task so that the soil is not so loose.
At the same time, in the clay soils the work is the opposite: it contributes to a certain disintegration of the soil.
For Marta Tardón, the objective of the farmer must be to make this contribution of organic matter several consecutive years to modify the soil structure. The result will be a more effective inorganic fertilization and also more efficient, thanks to the fact that the farmer will have more fertile soil.
Does it compete with inorganic fertilizer?
This year the prices of this type of fertilizer have risen as a result of the increase in production costs. But not a point of comparison with the rise in prices that the synthetic subscription has experienced, highly dependent on the price of energy and with an evolution closely linked to the news coming from Ukraine.
From an agronomic point of view, for a bottom fertiliser, manure is equivalent to a NPK 2-3-4. That is to say, it supposes a lower contribution of nutrients than what a ‘chemical’ fertilizer supposes.
Obviously, its value does not reside in the quantity of nutrient units, but in the qualitative improvement of the soil, with a fittest structure for agricultural activity, and specifically to have land that improves its relationship with the roots of the plant.
“The advantages do not reside only in the nutrient intake, but above all in improving the structure of our land”, emphasizes Tardón.
