Sugarcane by-product fertilizers: A sustainable solution for floral and tropical crop enhancement

A new approach to valorizing agro-industrial waste is to convert it into organic fertilizers enriched with NKP (nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium) to reduce the use of chemical fertilizers, which have various negative impacts on soil health. In the present work, the effect of an organic fertilizer made from agro-industrial on tropical floral crops was evaluated. The raw material was subjected to a microbial degradation process using composting and the resulting compost was analyzed for its physical, chemical and structural properties. The product was evaluated in situ in a floricultural crop using a randomized experimental design with 4 treatments: T o Control, T 1 organic fertilizer, T 2 commercial fertilizer and T 3 chemical fertilizer. Phenological behavior was studied considering the variables such as plant height and shoot number. The results showed an organic fertilizer with positive quality indicator: N 1.43 %, P 0.73 %, K 1.1 %, C/N 10.9 and OM 26.9 %. The humic compounds organic fertilizer characteristic was identified through FT-IR; the bands attributed to nitrogen (1384 cm −1 ) indicative of stable compost. The treatments T 1 and T 2 recorded higher urease activity than T 3 , with values of 363.02 and 366.97 µgN-NH 4 respectively, indicate microorganisms enzymatic activity increase, improving the soil biological quality. The treatments T 1 , T 2 and T 3 showed plant height and shoot media valued 50.2±5.388 cm, 55.67±11.254; 51.1±9.478, 53±12.12 and 46.2± 9.398 cm, 52 ± 5.65 respectively. Overall, organic fertilizer waste could be a nutrient efficient and environmentally friendly candidate for floriculture activities compared to chemical fertilizers.