Castor De Oiled Cake - Organic Fertilizer
De-oiled castor cake is also called castor meal, castor cake, castor residue or castor extract.
Castor meal - the residue obtained from castor oil cake by the solvent extraction process - is one of the most versatile natural manures. It is truly organic manure which enhances the fertility of the soil without causing any damage or decay. It is enriched with the three big elements vital and conducive to the proper growth of crops - Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium. It also has traces of nutrients like Manganese, Zinc and Copper, thus making it a balanced fertilizer. Moreover, it helps to neutralize the detrimental effects of chemical fertilizers. Apart from their contribution to Nutrients, they have a number of benefits in agriculture, which none of the synthetic fertilizers or pesticides can offer. They bring in the wonderful molecules that nature has designed to help the plants flourish naturally. They provide slow and steady nourishment, stimulation, protection from soil nematodes and insects, improve yields, and quality of product like taste, flavor, amino acid composition etc.
The protein content of castor seed meal varies from 21% - 60%, It has an ideal amino acid profile with moderately high Cystine, mithionine, and isoleucine. But its anti nutritional substances, ricin, ricine and an allergen restrict its use in poultry feed, even at a very low level of inclusion.
Castor De Oiled Cake is an excellent fertilizer because of high content of Nitrogen, Phosphoric Acid and Potash and moisture retention and it is also the prominent organic fertilizer can be used to as alternatives to chemical fertilizer. It is simple manure, which acts progressively that encourages soil microbial activity. 100 kg of castor De Oiled cake brings to the floor as much nitrogen (N) as 1000 kg of cow dung. The castor De Oiled cake has insecticidal properties and naturally pest repellent. It is can be used in organic farming.
This natural fertilizer being an environment friendly product is used all over the world. France uses this fertilizer for grape plantations done to produce wine. Other countries importing de-oiled cake are Germany, Switzerland and Taiwan.
It is also used as fuel in boilers as it has high calorific value than other fuels like lignite and coal and is also economical.
Nutrient content of Castor De Oiled Cake:
Organic matter ~ 80 %, Nitrogen ~ 4.00 to 8.00 %, Phosphorous ~ 1.50 %, Potassium ~ 1.50 %.
It also contains some micro nutrients viz., Calcium, Magnesium, Sulphur, Iron, Zinc, Manganese, Copper etc.
A typical composition of castor residue/meal is as follows:
Castor De Oiled Cake
Nitrogen - 4% min.
Phosphourous - 1% min.
Potassium - 1% min.
Moisture - 12 % max.
Oil Content - 0.5% max.
Sand Silica - 2% max