Effects of Biodynamic Preparation 500 (P500) Cow Horn Manure on Early Growth of Barley, Pea, Quinoa, and Tomato under Saline Stress Conditions

Eusun Han*, Cory Whitney, Wiebke Niether, William Nelson, Ton Baars

* eusun.han@uni-bonn.de, Institute of Organic Agriculture, University of Bonn

Controversy

Myth or Science?

Fig. 1. Preparation 500 (P500) cow horn manure (A) and mixing practice of homeopathic P500

A

Fig. 2. Physical (A), chemical (B), microbial (C), and faunal (D) soil properties biodynamic (BIODYN), bioorganic (BIOORG), conventional system with farm yard manure (CONFYM), and only with mineral fertilizer (CONMIN) at the DOK trial, FiBL (Source: Mäder, 2002, Science)

B

Problem

Africa10%

Asia & Pacific49%

Europe2%

Latin Amer-ica

15%

Near East23%

North America1%

Fig. 3. Regional distribution of salt-affected area Source: FAO (accessed on 19 Aug 2015)

Fig. 4. Shoot dry matter of Barley, Pea, Quinoa and Tomato as affected by biodynamic preparation 500 (P500) under control and salt-stressed condition. Small letters indicate significant differences (Mixed-effects model, P≤0.05).

Salt stress can be dissolved?

Fig. 5. Soil affected by salt stress in the tropics. Source: http://irri.org (accessed on 19 Aug 2015)

What about your soil?