Revitalizing Agricultural Waste: The Circular Password of Planting and Breeding Integration

When it comes to Agricultural Waste, many people think of nowhere to pile up straw and smelly feces, thinking that they are a burden on the environment. But in the eyes of ecological agriculture researchers, these things are "treasures".
The "combination of planting and breeding" model can revive these waste materials, not only solving the pollution problem, but also allowing barren land to grow abundant crops.
Misunderstood 'Baby': Waste is actually a resource misplaced
The core of the integration of planting and breeding is to help agricultural waste find the right "location". In traditional agricultural models, straw is burned and manure is discharged indiscriminately, which not only pollutes the environment but also wastes valuable resources.
The combination of farming and animal husbandry is like "rearranging work" for these wastes - straw can be turned into fertilizer, manure can nourish the soil, and even vegetable market leftovers and food processing residues can be transformed into "nutrients" for agricultural production through technological means.
These neglected 'waste materials' are an important part of the natural cycle. For example, crop straw contains abundant organic substances such as cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin, animal manure is rich in nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, and tree branches trimmed in gardens can be processed into cultivation substrates... Just like the "circulatory system" of nature, the "waste" produced by plant growth happens to be the "resource" of animal husbandry; And the waste generated by animals can also feed back the growth of plants. The combination of planting and breeding is precisely the scientific way to apply this natural cycle law to agricultural production.
Tailored to local conditions: Shanxi's practice of "waste to soil conversion"
In Shanxi, the model of combining planting and breeding has a more special significance - saving this relatively barren land.
The organic matter content in Shanxi soil is relatively low. Organic matter is like the "nutrient meal" of soil, the higher the content, the more fertile the soil, and the stronger the crops grown. But many farmlands in Shanxi suffer from a severe shortage of "nutritious meals".
The first thing to solve in the combination of planting and breeding is to "nourish" the soil. The research team of Shanxi Agricultural University has turned their attention to the most common agricultural waste - straw and livestock manure.
There are many ways to utilize straw, some of which are crushed and returned to the field to enhance soil organic matter; Some are suppressed into ecological blankets and laid on the embankments to prevent soil erosion; Some are also made into biodegradable seedling pots, which can be directly "melted" into fertilizer in the soil after planting crops.

But returning straw to the field also poses challenges - if a large amount of straw is returned every year, the decomposition of straw in the soil will be too slow, which will actually affect cultivation. For this reason, the research team has developed special microbial agents, like adding a "catalyst" to straw, which can quickly decompose them in the soil and become nutrients that can be absorbed by crops.

The treatment of livestock and poultry manure has taken the path of "high-temperature composting". Mixing feces and straw together and fermenting them at high temperatures can not only kill bacteria and insect eggs, but also convert the nutrients into Organic Fertilizer. However, there is a small challenge here. Some feces contain pollutants such as antibiotic resistance genes, and traditional composting has little effect on removing antibiotic resistance genes, resulting in some antibiotic resistance genes entering farmland with the use of compost products. Now, the research team is studying how to optimize the composting process to significantly remove antibiotics during high-temperature composting, making the produced organic fertilizer both fertile and "clean".
More than just 'turning waste into treasure': the profound significance of combining planting and breeding
The value of combining planting and breeding goes far beyond "turning waste into resources".
From an environmental perspective, it solves the major problem of agricultural pollution. In the past, burning straw caused air pollution, and the indiscriminate discharge of livestock and poultry manure polluted water sources and soil. And now, these wastes have been 'drained', reducing pollution from the source.
From the perspective of sustainable agricultural development, it has achieved "circular utilization". The straw generated during the planting process nourishes the farm, and the manure from the farm feeds back on the planting, forming a closed loop of "planting breeding planting". This model does not require excessive reliance on fertilizers and pesticides, which not only reduces agricultural production costs but also protects the ecological environment.
More importantly, it reconnected the "upstream and downstream" of agricultural production. In the traditional model, planting and breeding are often separated, with those who grow crops not caring about the farm and those who engage in breeding not caring about the farmland. The combination of planting and breeding enables close cooperation between the two, forming a mutually beneficial and win-win ecological chain.