Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Waste Management & Research
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Mnkeni, P. N. S.
Right arrow Articles by Austin, L. M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Mnkeni, P. N. S.
Right arrow Articles by Austin, L. M.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Evaluation of human urine as a source of nutrients for selected vegetables and maize under tunnel house conditions in the Eastern Cape, South Africa

Pearson N. S. Mnkeni

Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Science and Agriculture, University of Fort Hare, Alice, South Africa, pmnkeni{at}ufh.ac.za

Funso R. Kutu

Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Science and Agriculture, University of Fort Hare, Alice, South Africa

Pardon Muchaonyerwa

Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Science and Agriculture, University of Fort Hare, Alice, South Africa

Lorimer M. Austin

CSIR Built Environment Unit. Pretoria, South Africa

The introduction of ecological sanitation (ECOSAN) toilets in South Africa has created opportunities for safer sanitation and recycling of human excreta, as fertilizers, in rural and peri-urban areas. A study was carried out to evaluate the fertilizer value of human urine (0 to 400 kg N ha—1) for maize and tomato, compared to urea, in a tunnel house. Dry matter yield of both maize and tomato, harvested at 9 and 10 weeks after planting, respectively, increased with increasing N rate (both as urine or urea) up to 200 kg N ha —1. Urea reduced soil electrical conductivity (EC) whereas urine increased it. Leaf tissue Na, in both crops, also increased with urine application. A follow-up study was carried out with two crops with contrasting sensitivity to salinity and using a wider range of N application (0 to 800 kg N ha—1). The results indicated increased root and leaf dry-matter yield of beetroot (tolerant to salinity) with increased urine rates up to the highest rate of 800 kg N ha—1 , whereas the leaf and root dry-matter yield of carrot, which is sensitive to salinity, peaked at the low urine application rate of 50 kg N ha— 1. Soil EC increased with urine application up to 4.64 and 13.35 mS cm—1, under beetroot and carrot, respectively. Generally the results showed that human urine compared well with urea as a source of N for crops but optimum rates depend on the sensitivity of the crops to soil salinity, which should be monitored where human urine is regularly used for fertilizing crops.

Key Words: Ecological sanitation • nutrients • human excreta • urine • salinity • maize • vegetables • wmr 1064—6

Waste Management & Research, Vol. 26, No. 2, 132-139 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0734242X07079179
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?