Marisa Martinez
Pronouns: she/her
Research Mentor(s): Lucinda Li
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Civil and Environmental Engineering / Engineering
Program: UROPF
Session: Session 4 (1:40pm – 2:30pm)
Authors: Marisa Martinez, Kathleen Fitzsimmons, Lucinda Li, Krista Wigginton, Nancy Love
Abstract
In addition to being highly energy intensive to produce, inorganic fertilizers cause eutrophication, soil health degradation, and greenhouse gas emissions. There has been an increasing interest to use waste-derived fertilizers, such as urine-derived fertilizer (UDF), which could decrease the amount of soluble nitrogen and phosphorus added to the environment (Antonini et al., 2012). Urine contains nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium which are all important for supporting agriculture, but it is unknown how UDF would affect soil nitrogen cycling. A study was undertaken to investigate the role of UDF in nitrogen cycling in comparison to inorganic and organic fertilizer amendments. In order to be used as UDF, urine must first be passed through an activated carbon reactor that removes contaminants while retaining nutrients, and then pasteurized to ensure all pathogens are inactivated. A controlled greenhouse experiment was conducted with the processed UDF, inorganic, and organic fertilizers to compare their effects on the soil nitrogen cycling potential. The DNA from the soil was extracted and nitrogen functional genes (nifH, amoA, nirK, nirS, and nosZ) and 16S rRNA were quantified using qPCR. Preliminary results suggest that the activated carbon reactor was successful at removing methylene blue, a proxy for contaminants, and retaining nitrogen. Our results will assist in the evaluation of UDF as an alternative to existing inorganic and organic fertilizers. Citations: Antonini, S.; Arias, M. A.; Eichert, T.; Clemens, J. Greenhouse Evaluation and Environmental Impact Assessment of Different Urine-Derived Struvite Fertilizers as Phosphorus Sources for Plants. Chemosphere 2012, 89 (10), 1202–1210.
