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What are the differences between fertilizers and manures? Why it is used in growth of crops?

A major difference between animal manure and commercial inorganic fertilizers is that some of the nutrients in manure are in the organic form and must go through a decomposition process (mineralization) in order to be converted to inorganic forms available for plant uptake.  This makes animal manure a more slowly available source of plant nutrients than commercial inorganic fertilizer N.  However, it is the organic fraction of manure that also plays an important role in increasing soil organic matter content.As with any fertilizer, over-application of manures (e.g. repeated application at rates which greatly exceed the crop nutrient removal) and improper application increases the risk of manure nutrient losses to the environment and deterioration of environmental quality.


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