Vinasse for tired and difficult soil

Among the techniques that contribute to increasing the sustainability of fertilization, a popular one is exploiting for agricultural use the waste materials and by-products of various processes, inherent to the agro-industrial sector and beyond. We talked about it when dealing with manure, pomace pulp and bone and meat meals.

The Vinasse, the object of this analysis, is another example of applying circular economy in agriculture, where products and by-products are obtained from a crop, part of which return to nourish the land that has guaranteed nutrition to the crop itself.

Vinasse is the residue of the fermentation and distillation process of sugar based materials, such as sugar beet and cane, pomace, potatoes and cereals. The main uses of vinasse, which may be in liquid or dry form, include the production of biogas and their inclusion in the composition of feed or in the formulation of organic and organo-mineral fertilizers.

The following considerations refer to sugar beet vinasse, obtained from molasses, the thick and dark liquid left over from the extraction of sugar.

Used as is, or in a mixture with other matrices, molasses vinasse proves to be particularly interesting as a fertilizer because of its high nitrogen content (3-4% as is, mostly organic, but also nitric and ammonia at a lower percentage) and Potassium (6-7% as is expressed as K₂O), while the phosphorus content is negligible.

Once again, as is, the organic substance fluctuates between 45 and 50% and contains high amounts of amino acids, proteins and sugars which, distributed to the soil, stimulate microbial proliferation and the development of the root capillary structure of crops. The particular composition of Vinasse therefore makes it a fertilizer capable of providing both short release and slow-release nutrients, and of positively influencing the biological fertility of soils.

In view of the compositional characteristics set out in the previous paragraph, the use of organic or organo-mineral fertilizers containing vinasse is particularly recommended in the case of tired soils, where crops show declines in yields or a reduced quality standard of the products. The ‘booster’ effect in such situations is amply demonstrated and documented in the Bibliography. Fore example, the following article that was recently published in BmC Plant Biology is highlighted, which illustrates the positive effects that sugar beet and sugar cane vinasse combined with pollen have on the composition of soils, and on the reduction of the environmental impact of industrial wastewater (thanks to their reuse) deriving from the application on “difficult” soils, located in Egypt. These are soils, very common in this country, with a strong calcareous component, with a high pH and a low content of organic matter, on which yields are often unsatisfactory. They have shown to benefit significantly from the application of these two organic matrices, with improvements in structure, nutrient availability, pH and microbiological viability.

The use of vinasse-based fertilizers is allowed in organic farming provided that, as specifically reported in the current legislation, their production process does not involve extraction with ammonia salts.

BIOKALIUM 338 is an organic soil activator fertilizer containing humidified organic matter, vegetable protein cakes and organic vinasse (not extracted with ammonia salts), formulated in pellets. The particular composition, consisting of humo-mineral complexes, guarantees the gradual and constant transfer of the nutrients contained within, limiting the loss of nutrients, while the special composition of the organic substance promotes the microbiological fertility of soils. It is especially suitable for fertilizing vineyards, orchards and vegetables in greenhouses and in the open field.

BIOPLUS is a completely plant-based liquid organic fertilizer made from sugar beet molasses, not extracted with ammonia salts. BIOPLUS provides nitrogen and potassium, in addition to other natural ingredients such as proteins, amino acids and sugars, which together make BIOPLUS particularly effective in promoting the microbial activity of soils, especially those that are sandy and low in organic matter, and in revitalizing tired and saline soils. The distribution of BIOPLUS has an extraordinary greening effect on crops, combined with an improvement in the colour and size of the fruits, as well as an increase in the sugar content. BIOPLUS is suitable for a wide range of applications, ranging from the foliar fertilization of cereals to root fertilization at the end of winter – from the vegetative recovery of the main fruit crops, to the pre-transplant distribution of all vegetable crops, both in greenhouses and in the open field.

MICROTECH START, a mycorrhizal mushroom inoculum made with vinasse from different sources, also contains fluid vinasse as an organic matrix.  Its special composition, the result of scientific research and company know-how, enables it to provide plants with the key elements of nutrition (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) as well as organic carbon, enzymes, sugars, levorotatory amino acids, peptones, mycorrhizae and rhizosphere bacteria (PGPR, nitrogen fixators, etc.). The interaction between the organic substance and the specific microbial pool creates an extraordinary synergy between all the components of the product, greatly benefitting the soil and crops, manifesting as increased development of the root system, greater plant strength and the crop’s greater resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses.