Glossary Terms

Mineral, synthetic, industrial, artificial or manufactured fertilizers.

Fraction of fresh matter, dry matter, N, P or K allocated to the harvested crop fraction(s).

The extent to which a nutrient (N, P) in a manure or in a compost is as plant-available as that nutrient in a common mineral equivalent applied according to good agricultural practices, usually expressed as kg per 100 kg applied = fertilizer equivalency = ratio of apparent recoveries* (or of apparent efficiencies**) of a nutrient [...]

Substance used in agriculture to provide crops with vital nutrients to grow (such as Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P), Potassium (K) and lime).

Liquid or solid residues produced by fermentation of biomass (anaerobic digestion) in a biogas plant.

Aerobic microbial decomposition and transformation of organic materials. It is usually achieved by regular turning and aeration of a stored organic product in piles with a geometry that can favour aeration. With this transformation, the chemical composition, particularly the C to N ratio comes closer to values needed for the net release of N once [...]

The material used to supply organic matter or plant nutrients to a soil, resulting from composting.

CaO Ca x 1.39 = CaO

Yield increase of a crop per unit of nutrient applied (kg per kg) in addition to the yield of an unfertilized control.

Fraction of an applied nutrient (kg per kg) recovered in above ground or harvested crop parts in addition to the amount of that nutrient taken up in an unfertilized control.