Tentative guidelines for agricultural use of urine and faeces

Abstract

Plant nutrients are a necessary input in high-productive and sustainable crop production. The plant nutrients in both urine and faeces emanate from arable fields and thus should be recycled as fertilisers to support sustainability and to retain the fertility of the fields. This paper presents tentative general guidelines for use of urine and faeces as fertiliser. Urine is a quick acting fertiliser rich in nitrogen, and with a composition of nutrients that well matches the needs of many crops. Urine and faecal matter well supplement each other, since faecal matter is slower and rich in phosphorous and potassium. It also contains organic matter and will increase the buffering capacity and the organic matter of the soil. Faecal matter should be sanitised before reuse, since it can contain high concentrations of pathogens. More research on use of urine and faeces is needed in order to make the recommendations more detailed and to develop new ways to efficiently use human excreta in agriculture. The guidelines are developed by EcoSanRes, a programme supported by Sida

Keywords

Agriculture; faeces; fertilising; nutrient recycling; urine

Published in

Title: proceedings of the 2nd International Symposium on Ecological Sanitation , 7th - 11th April 2003, Lübeck, Germany
Publisher: 2nd International Symposium on Ecological Sanitation

Conference

The 2nd International Symposium on Ecological Sanitation Incorporating the 1st IWA Specialist Group Conference on Sustainable Sanitation

SLU Authors

• Jönsson, Håkan

  • Department of Energy and Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Vinnerås, Björn

  • Department of Energy and Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Environmental Sciences and Nature Conservation

Publication identifier

• ISBN: 3-00-012791-7

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/4249