Fish Meal Organic Fertilizer Making, Uses, Composition

Fish meal organic fertilizer

Today, we learn the topic of fish meal organic fertilizer making and its uses.

Organic fertilizers are used to improve soil quality and tilth, and to give nutrients for plant growth. They provide nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, as well as other elements necessary for plant development and overall good health.

Fish organic fertilizers work a bit differently than other organic fertilizers. Some, like Fish meal, fish emulsions offer slow-release nutrition. As fish meal fertilizer is dried and granulated fish remnants, it still needs to compost down in the soil. Over time, the Fish meal can give nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium. It provides other minerals and vitamins which your plants need such as calcium or iron. How is Fish fertilizer made? Fish fertilizer is made from whole fish and carcass products, with bones, scales, and skin. Rather than let unusable fish products go to waste, these are converted into nutrients for the garden. Different types of fish, such as menhaden and anchovies, are ground into a slurry. This product is then processed to remove oils and Fish meal, which are used in other industries.

Types of fish fertilizer

Fish fertilizer is normally available in three forms:

• Meal,
• Emulsion, and
• Hydrolysate

Fish meal fertilizer:

What is Fish meal? Fish meal is a fish fertilizer produced from dried fish waste, where the rancid oil is removed and preservatives are added. This is a slow release fertilizer it is valuable for leafy plants. Fish meal is a good source of micronutrients and provides food for good bacteria in the soil, resulting in larger, stronger plant growth. Fish meal fertilizer allows the stored protein (nitrogen) to latch onto the plant, not the soil, resulting in more successful fertilizing. The fish meal should be worked into the soil and heavily watered.

Fish meal is a natural fish fertilizer that is an excellent source nutrient for lawn and garden. Fish Meal (FM) is an organic fertilizer used for hundreds of years as an organic fertilizer. It is high in nitrogen and phosphorus and contains important trace elements making it an excellent broad-based organic fertilizer.

Fish meal is a strong supply of organic nitrogen, Fish meal fertilizer is uniquely processed to retain maximum nutritional value without using high temperatures or synthetic chemicals. Applied to leaves it is assimilated speedily by plants.

Fish meal has had the oils removed to use in other products, increase nitrogen content, and maintain it from spoiling, so it’s a less complete nutrient source. The slower spoilage makes it a decent preference if you don’t know exactly when you’ll be using it but want to keep some on hand. Although it’s a solid, Fish meal fertilizer can be mixed into a foliar spray. It’s easier, while, to use one of the liquid forms of fish fertilizer, as an emulsion or hydrolysate.

The Fish meal consists of waste from fisheries after all the human food material is removed, or made from fish not suitable for human consumption. Fish meal is a brown powder from pressing the fish to remove the fish oil. Resist scattering FM around the organic garden, because of the strong odor. Mix it thoroughly into the 4 inches of the soil.

Is Fish meal good for plants? Fish meal organic fertilizer is an excellent source of nitrogen, phosphorus and is recommended for vegetable gardens, flower beds and all types of outdoor plants, trees & shrubs. Fish meal enhances soil microbial life, promotes vigorous root growth and provides an early season boost for all of the plants.

Fish meal organic fertilizer is a byproduct of the production of fish oils. This is formed by cooking and pressing fish, then drying and grinding the meat and bone. While it’s not composted, this fish meal organic fertilizer is often used as a soil amendment. Available in compressed cakes or a loose meal form, it is a fine, brownish color material. It can be grainy or powdery in consistency and is simply worked through the soil.

Fish meal organic fertilizer means a product obtained by drying and grinding or otherwise treating fish or fish waste to which no other matter has been added. The term white fish meal is reserved for a product containing not more than 6 percent oil and not more than 4 percent salt, get from white fish or white fish waste such as filleting offal.

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Uses of Fish meal organic fertilizer:

Fish meal is a high nutrient, organic fertilizer with including a nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium ratio (N-P-K) of 10-2-2.

• High in macronutrients
• High in micronutrients
• Contains all amino acids
• High in vitamins, including the entire B-complex

Fish meal fertilizer is an excellent year-round fertilizer and soil builder. It is completely natural and 100% safe for your entire family. Now you can have a beautiful lawn and garden without having to worry about the problems associated with dangerous chemical fertilizers.

• Used to increase green leaf growth.
• Used for increased root growth.
• Improves soil structure.
• When adding Fish meal to your garden as a nitrogen source, always blend it into the organic garden soil.
• Excellent source of nitrogen and phosphorus.
• Highest quality ingredients help give an effective and environmentally friendly approach to plant care, crop fertilization and Soil Management.

Fish meal processing:

Fish meal fertilizer is known by nutritionists as a high-quality, very digestible feed ingredient that is favored for addition to the diet of most farm animals, particularly fish and shrimp.

Fish meal fertilizer carries large quantities of energy per unit weight and is an excellent source of protein, lipids, or oils, minerals, and vitamins; there is a very little carbohydrate in Fish meal. Fishmeal is finished by cooking, pressing, drying, and grinding of fish or fish waste into a solid. Most of the water and all of the oil is removed. Four or five tonnes of fish are required to manufacture one tonne of the dry Fish meal.

Of the several ways of production Fish meal of raw fish, the simplest is to let the fish dry out in the sun before grinding and pressing. This process is still used in some parts of the world where processing plants are not available, but the end product is of poor quality in comparison with ones prepared by modern methods. How does Fish meal work? Anytime is best to build soil, but the Fish meal is most effective when applied in the fall, winter, or early spring to condition the soil. Its slow discharge of nutrients (30-60 days) makes it a dependable soil builder as well as a non-burning nutrient with wide application for many plants.

Today, the Fish meal is made by the following processes:

Cooking:

When fish is cooked and the protein is coagulated, much of the water and oil runoff, or can be removed by pressing, while raw fish lose little liquor even under very high mechanical pressure. A commercial cooker consists effectively of long steam jacketed cylinder through which the fish are moved by a screw conveyor. Some cookers have the facility for injecting steam into the cooking material. The cooking process is critical; if the fish are incompletely cooked, the liquor cannot be pressed out satisfactorily, and if overcooked the material becomes too soft for pressing. No drying occurs during the cooking period.

Pressing:

This stage of the method removes some of the oil and water. The fish are conveyed during a perforated tube whilst being subjected to increasing pressure, normally by means of a tapered shaft of the screw conveyor. A mixture of water and oil is squeezed out during the perforations and the solid, known as press cake, emerges from the end of the press. During the pressing procedure, the water content may be reduced from about 70 percent to about 50 percent, and the oil content reduced to about four percent.

Drying:

The press cake is dried by tumbling within a heated drum. Under-drying can result in the growth of molds or bacteria; over-drying can cause scorching and decrease in the meal’s nutritional value.

Two different methods of drying are used;

Direct: Very hot air at a temperature of 500°C (932°F) is passed over the material as it is tumbled speedily in a cylindrical drum. While quicker, heat damage is much more likely if the procedure is not carefully controlled.

Indirect: The Fish meal is tumbled inside a cylinder containing steam-heated discs.

Grinding:

The dried Fish meal is ground to remove any lumps or bone particles. The finishing procedures are grinding to break down any lumps and particles of bone, and packing the meal into bags or storing it in silos for bulk delivery. From the Fish meal plant the meal is transported to the animal food compounder, and from there to the farm.

Nutrient composition of Fish meal:

Any complete diet should contain some protein, but the nutritional value of the protein relates directly to its amino acid composition and digestibility. The high-quality Fish meal generally contains between 60% and 72% crude protein by weight. Typical diets for fish can contain from 32% to 45% total protein by weight.

Cost of Fish meal fertilizer:

Fish meal fertilizer cost is approximately Rs 28/Kilogram.

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Storage and transport of Fish meal:

Fish meal fertilizer is not readily spoiled by bacterial action because of its low water content, and it has a small bulk compared to the fish from which it is made; indeed, these are two of the major reasons for making a Fish meal. There is no want to refrigerate the meal in storage.

Fish meal is generally stored and transported either in sacks made of paper, hessian or plastics or in bulk. Fish meal in bulk is sometimes pelletized to create mechanical handling easier since it does not flow readily as a powder.

Fish meal fertilizer is best kept in a cool, dry place protected from rodents and birds. Spoilage is generally very slight even after excessively long periods of storage; the Fish meal will maintain for several years without a detectable change in its nutritional value.

A Fish meal prepared from fatty fish, however, will prove a gradual decrease in fat content, as considered by extraction with ether, unless antioxidants are present; this is because the fats gradually oxidize during storage and become relatively insoluble in common organic solvents. Oxidized fats are less valuable nutritionally since the animal cannot utilize it for its energy needs. The risk of taint to the animal flesh is much reduced, though, once the fats are oxidized.

Protection against contamination through the manufacture of the meal has been mentioned; protection during storage is equally important. The floors, walls and handling equipment in the store should be kept clean, and screens over doors and windows help to keep out birds and rodents that can be carriers of Salmonella organisms. Foot dips are sometimes given to prevent workers carrying harmful bacteria into the store. The risk of contamination is commonly much higher when handling meal in bulk, particularly during loading and unloading of transport.

That’s all folks about fish meal organic fertilizer making process.

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