ASHS 2025 Conference

Organic materials such as meat and bone meal (MBM; rendering product) and treated manure products can be excellent fertilizers due to balanced availability of nutrients. In this study, we investigated the influence of natural amendments (NAs), specifically sulfur and neem oil, on nitrogen (N) mineralization dynamics from MBM and treated manure solids upto 63 days of incubation under controlled environment at 4 different time points (7th, 21st, 35th and 63rd days). Soil incubation experiments revealed distinct mineralization patterns between MBM and treated manure solids. MBM exhibited a faster N mineralization rate compared to treated manure solids. MBM treated with sulfur (25% of N) showed the highest net N mineralization rate (49.83%) as compared to untreated MBM (40.91%) by day 21. However, when MBM was amended with Neem oil (10% of N), the net N mineralization decreased significantly to 36.68% by day 21. There was no statistical difference observed between MBM, MBM with sulfur (25% of N), MBM with neem oil (10% of N) for net N mineralization at day 7. Similarly, treated manure solids with sulfur (25% N) non significantly reduced net N mineralization to 8.86% and 2.13% at 21 day and 7 days respectively. Further, we will be evaluating the effect of these treatments on soil biological health and C, N and P enzymatic activity. This comprehensive evaluation aims to provide insights into optimizing the use of natural amendments for strengthening nutrient management in organic agricultural systems.