Beer waste as a pesticide?
Organic beer-manure product boosts yield and protects from parasites.
A productive lettuce yield following the researchers new biodisinfestation method. Credit: Maite Gandariasbeitia et al
Some pesticides can be harmful to humans, but beer may be an organic solution to that problem, suggests a study published in
Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems.
A team of researchers, led by Maite Gandariasbeitia from NEIKER-BRTA Basque Institute for Agricultural Research and Development in Spain, has investigated organic by-products of used beer grains (called bagasse) and canola (rapeseed oil) cakes, to find that they make a useful pesticide when mixed with cow manure.
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The use of many chemical fumigants in agriculture have been demonstrated to be harmful to human health and the environment and therefore banned from use.
Now, in an effort to reduce waste from the agricultural industry and reduce the amounts of harmful chemicals used, researchers have investigated using organic byproducts from beer production and farming as a potential method to disinfest soils, preserve healthy soil microorganisms and increase crop yields.
In this study published to Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, researchers from the Neiker Basque Institute for Agricultural Research and Development in Spain investigated using agricultural by-products rapeseed cake and beer bagasse (spent beer grains), along with fresh cow manure as two organic biodisinfestation treatments. The lead author Maite Gandariasbeitia explains: Rapeseed cake and beer bagasse are two potential organic treatments which have shown really positive results in previous studies.
Although the use of pesticides is harmful to the environment, farmers still need a way of keeping crop-damaging organisms at bay. According to a new study, a combination of agricultural and beer brewing waste products may be able to help.
A new study published by the open access publisher Frontiers has demonstrated that beer bagasse and rapeseed cake can be used as effective biodisinfestation treatments to reduce populations of soil parasites and increase crop yields.
Researchers demonstrated that using these organic treatments in soils significantly reduced root-knot nematodes and boosted beneficial soil populations, as well as reducing waste from the agricultural industry by incorporating organic by-products as a treatment instead of harmful chemical fumigants.