Science popularization | One article understanding, which type of organic fertilizer is most suitable for orchard application, traditional, commercial, or biological?

Dear fruit farmers, if you want the fruits in your orchard to grow well and have high quality, the choice of Organic Fertilizer is crucial! Applying organic fertilizer is one of the most important material inputs and technical measures in orchard cultivation. It can increase the organic matter content of orchard soil and improve soil structure. It should be noted that organic matter content is an important indicator of soil fertility. Soil organic matter and total nitrogen are positively correlated with fruit sugar content, while total phosphorus and total potassium are positively correlated with sugar acid ratio. So, choosing the right organic fertilizer can ensure good growth of fruit trees and improve fruit quality. Which traditional, commercial, or biological organic fertilizer is more suitable for our orchard? Let's have a good chat today.
Application of traditional organic fertilizers
The application of traditional organic fertilizers has a long history, and it is still the main way to apply base fertilizers in most orchards during autumn and winter seasons. We commonly use animal manure such as compost, chicken manure, cow manure, pig manure, sheep manure, and human manure and urine.
Sheep manure is a natural and green good fertilizer, containing 4% to 27% organic matter, which is more abundant than other animal manure. It is rich in nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium nutrients, with fine manure and thick fertilizer content, making it a thermal fertilizer. Chicken manure is also rich in nutrients, especially crude protein, with an organic matter content of 25.5%. After appropriate processing and utilization, it can become a good green organic fertilizer. Pig manure contains 15% organic matter, with low total nutrient content and a low carbon to nitrogen ratio (14:1). It is generally easily decomposed by microorganisms, releasing nutrients that crops can absorb and utilize. The organic matter content of cow manure is 14.5%, and the air dried sample contains 43.6% crude fiber, with nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium elements approaching 1%.

However, traditional organic fertilizers require a large amount per acre and require deep excavation and burial during application, resulting in particularly high labor intensity. This seriously affects the enthusiasm of fruit farmers to apply base fertilizer and supplement soil organic matter in autumn. Moreover, with the increasing aging of orchard production personnel, the application of traditional organic fertilizers is facing great challenges, which also affects the sustainable production of orchards.
Returning straw to the field and planting green manure
The traditional operating procedures for planting orchards generally require digging planting trenches with a depth and width of 80 centimeters each, and burying corn or wheat straw in the trenches. But now with the large-scale implementation of mechanical harvesting and on-site straw returning, the original operation is difficult to achieve.

Raw grass management is the preferred ground management system for advanced fruit tree production countries and regions such as Japan, Europe, and America. The coverage rate of grass in Japanese orchards is over 90%, and in European and American countries, the coverage rate of grass in orchards is also over 70%. However, in the production of orchards in our country, the use of grass planting is relatively rare. Many orchards rely mainly on clearing and chemical fertilizers, and weed control is labor-intensive and inefficient. Some orchards use herbicides, but this reduces the level of pollution-free production, and improper use can also cause pesticide damage.
In fact, planting green manure in orchards has many benefits. It can increase soil organic matter content, reduce soil water evaporation, regulate soil temperature, improve soil physical and chemical properties, increase nutrient utilization efficiency, improve the growth status of fruit trees, increase orchard yield and quality, greatly reduce labor management intensity, and increase economic benefits. After being contracted for land use, orchards are mostly operated by households. Due to the difficulty in achieving immediate results and the high cost of labor, the application area of green manure in orchards has greatly decreased, and the proportion of inter row intercropping has increased. This measure has not been widely promoted.
Application of commodity organic fertilizer
Commercial organic fertilizer is a fertilizer made mainly from by-products rich in organic matter such as livestock and poultry manure and animal and plant residues, which are fermented and decomposed. It does not include green manure, farmyard manure, and organic manure produced by farmers themselves.

Nowadays, with the rapid development of animal husbandry, livestock manure, which is used as a raw material for commercial organic fertilizer, has been added with a large amount of lime, clay and other materials in the management process of the breeding farm for environmental hygiene, which indirectly reduces the nutritional content. So, in order to meet the standards issued by the Ministry of Agriculture, either crop straw can be added for co fermentation, or a certain proportion of humic acid raw materials can be directly added, which will correspondingly increase production costs.
Although organic-inorganic compound fertilizers are easy to produce, their organic matter content requirements are not high. If applied as a base fertilizer for fruit trees, it must be used in large quantities in actual production, which not only leads to significant excessive waste, but may also cause negative effects such as "burning seedlings", and greatly increases the application cost.
Application of bio organic fertilizer
Bio organic fertilizer is a combination of specific functional microorganisms and organic materials mainly derived from animal and plant residues (such as livestock and poultry manure, crop straw, etc.) that have been treated harmlessly and decomposed. It combines the effects of microbial fertilizer and organic fertilizer. Because it contains beneficial bacteria such as Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus amyloliquefaciens, which can decompose and utilize plant residues in the soil, it is commonly known as "bacterial fertilizer".

Bioorganic fertilizers have complete nutritional elements, which can improve soil, alleviate soil compaction caused by the use of chemical fertilizers, improve soil physical and chemical properties, and enhance the ability of soil to retain water, nutrients, and supply nutrients. After the beneficial microorganisms enter the soil, they will form a symbiotic relationship with the existing microorganisms in the soil, inhibit the growth of harmful bacteria, and transform into beneficial bacteria. They interact and promote each other, playing a synergistic role in the community. Beneficial bacteria produce a large amount of metabolites during their growth and reproduction process, which can promote the decomposition and transformation of organic matter, directly or indirectly providing crops with various nutrients and stimulating substances, promoting and regulating crop growth. Continuous application can greatly alleviate continuous cropping obstacles and reduce environmental pollution, making it an environmentally friendly fertilizer.
In practical work, it is generally recommended to apply 120-150 kilograms per mu of bio bacterial fertilizer with an organic matter content of over 50% as base fertilizer or topdressing, which can reduce the use of labor.
Strategy and Suggestions
In order to improve soil physical and chemical properties, enhance fruit quality, produce high-quality fruits, save labor, and achieve labor-saving and labor-saving fertilization, it is recommended to use high concentration bio organic fertilizer with an organic matter content of over 40% as the autumn and winter base fertilizer in orchard production, combined with continuous use of green manure for rolling, and supplemented with appropriate amounts of chemical fertilizers during the growing season. This can optimize the types of fertilizers in the orchard and help us create high-quality orchards.