Waste milk humification product can be used as a slow release nano-fertilizer
Yanping Zhu, Yuxuan Cao, Bingbing Fu, Chengjin Wang, Shihu Shu, Pengjin Zhu, Dongfang Wang, He Xu, Naiqin Zhong, Dongqing Cai
Abstract
The demand for milk has increased globally, accompanied by an increase in waste milk. Here, we provide an artificial humification technology to recycle waste milk into an agricultural nano-fertilizer. We use KOH-activated persulfate to convert waste milk into fulvic-like acid and humic-like acid. We mix the product with attapulgite to obtain a slow-release nano fulvic-like acid fertilizer. We apply this nano-fertilizer to chickweeds growing in pots, resulting in improved yield and root elongation. These results indicate that waste milk could be recycled for agricultural purposes, however, this nano-fertilizer needs to be tested further in field experiments.