Korean Journal of Agricultural Science ISSN:2466-2402(Print) 2466-2410(Online) 농업과학연구

Eggs are likely to be used in agriculture because they can provide enough nutrients for crop growth. Statistics show that a large number of eggs are lost due to breakage before reaching the final consumer. The purpose of this study was to make a natural liquid fertilizer as a substitute for chemical fertilizers using broken eggs as a resource and to evaluate the efficiency of the formulated fertilizer. To make the liquid fertilizer, the broken eggs and distilled water were mixed at ratios of 6 : 4 and 4 : 6. Then, effective micro-organisms (EM) and sugar were added, and the mixture was fermented. The temperature and electrical conductivity (EC) increased gradually with the fermentation while the pH decreased. When evaluated following the seed germination index method of the compost, it was found that the fertilizer matured 10 days after the beginning of the experiment. The growth experiment was conducted with lettuce in which the fermented liquid fertilizer was compared with a commercial liquid fertilizer. The 6 : 4 treatment produced plants with the densest fresh shoot and roots weighing 41.6 and 4.6 g, respectively. The number of leaves (12.3 per plant) was also the highest for the 6 : 4 treatment. Soil analysis showed that the soil pH was improved, and the soil organic matter was increased in the fermented liquid fertilizer treatment.