Influence of Human Urine-compost Mixture on Some Soil Fertility Properties, Yield and Shelf-life of Tomato (Solanum lycopersicon)

Abstract

Human urine, especially if combined with composts, could be a good source of fertilizer for improving soil fertility and ultimately, crop production. Thus, the focus of this study was to evaluate the influence of human urine-compost mixture on post-harvest soil fertility quality, yield and shelflife of tomato (Solanum lycopersicon). The study had six fertilizer treatments: urine, compost, compost: urine -1:2, compost: urine -2:1, NPK 15-15-15 and the Control (no soil additive) laid in a Randomized Completely Block Design (RCBD), with four replicates. The experiment was conducted at the experimental field of the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. The treatments were applied at the rate of 90 kg K ha -1 and the effects on soil fertility status, number of fruits, fresh and dry weights, as well as shelf-life were observed, using tomato as the test crop. The urine treated soils had the highest (P<0.05) number of fruits (16.50 fruits plant -1) at the end of the first planting. At the end of the second planting, urine treatment had the highest mean dry weight of 141 kg ha -1 Original Research Articletomato fruits, while NPK 15-15-15 resulted into the lowest yield (70 kg ha -1 ). Thus, human urinecompost combinations 1:2 or 2:1 nitrogen are recommended as alternatives to mineral fertilizer for tomato production, for improved yield, shelf-life and soil fertility.

Nutritional Quality of Tomato (&lt;i&gt;Lycopersicon lycopersicum&lt;/i&gt; L.) Varieties as Influenced by Combined Application of Human Urine and Rock Phosphate

“…and OMF mixtures (urea + SSP + urine + ORP) on dry shoot weight and fresh fruit weight respectively than inorganic fertilizer (urea + SSP). It could be observed that urine + ORP based fertilizer gave a better plant performance in terms of nutrient use efficiency and quality than urea + SSP, which supports the findings of [27] that human urine-compost combination 1:2 or 2:1 gave improved yield, shelf life and soil fertility than mineral fertilizers (NPK 15:15:15). He reported that human urine could be a good fertilizer for producing tomatoes and if combined with compost, effects are better.…”