Human Urine as a Low Cost and Effective Nitrogen Fertilizer for Bean Production

AbstractThe overuse and misuse of chemical fertilizers attributed to critical environmental and health problems such as Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) in Sri Lanka. Therefore, there is a growing trend among present researches to explore low cost, effective fertilizer substitutes for inorgnaic fertilizers in cropproduction. Human urine is a liquid waste rich in essential plant nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium. This study was conducted to explorethe possibility of utilizing human urine in edible crop production as a low cost and effective nitrogen fertilizer. The study was conducted in a greenhouse using bushita bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) as crop species. Five treatments: T1 (Albert solution), T2 (Agriculture department recommendation for nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P), potassium (K) fertilizers; Urea, TSP and MOP), T3 (Human urine; nitrogen concentration adjusted to 20% less than the nitrogen concentration in T2), T4 (Human urine; nitrogen concentration adjusted similar to T2), and T5 (human urine; nitrogen concentration adjusted to 20% more than the concentration in T2) were applied three weeks after planting. Results revealed that T5 showed the highest increase in plant height, leaf area, root dry weight and total nitrogen content of leaves. Bean yield was significantly higher (p