A new study suggests that recycling biotechnology byproducts can enhance soil health while reducing carbon emissions and maintaining crop yields.In a recent paper in Agrosystems, Geosciences & Environment, researchers examine the possible benefits of a new kind of crop fertiliser. They studied two fields of maize -- one plot treated with heat-inactivated spent microbial mass (SMB), and one plot treated with a typical farmer fertiliser practice.SMB is a biotechnology waste by-product that can provide nutrients contained in conventional fertilisers. Over the course of one year, researchers measured the net ecosystem exchange of carbon dioxide (net CO2 emissions) between the crop surface and atmosphere of the two plots. Researchers also measured yields of maize over two growing seasons, in addition to changes in soil carbon over 1.7 years.According to the research findings, the addition of SMB provided similar crop yields to that of typical farmer fertilisation practices. However, .
