Resource oriented sanitation improves the efficacy of excreta treatment schemes, reduces the environmental pollution from their disposal and improves soil fertility. In a recent study by Nadia Andreev, the effect of stored faeces and bio-waste treated via lactic acid fermentation and supplemented by urine charged biochar was assessed on the growth and yield of corn as well as on the soil quality in a two year field experiment. Nadia found that the lacto-fermented mix supplemented by biochar significantly improved plant height compared to all fertilizers during the first production year and compared to the control, stored faeces and vermicompost during the second year. This fertilizer also achieved a significantly higher corn yield compared to all other fertilizers during first and second production year, except for the lacto-fermented mix without biochar and the mineral fertilizer, which showed no significant yield difference.

For Nadia's full abstract, go to: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167880916304066