Effectiveness of Squid Hydrolysate as a Home Lawn Fertilizer and Its Environmental Impacts.

A high demand for cleaned squid has created a burden on squid processors to dispose of squid byproducts (SBP).  We evaluated squid hydrolysate (SH) as fertilizer for home lawns. Use of SBP as fertilizer  would reduce the cost of disposal. Granular and liquid squid fertilizers were applied to replicated (n=4) turf plots (Lolium perenne) at rates of 1, 3, and 6 lb N/1000ft²/yr.  Both SH fertilizers were compared to synthetic granular and liquid fertilizers. A zero fertilizer treatment was employed as a negative control. Soil was analyzed periodically for pH, extractable NH₄⁺, NO₃^-, PO₄^3- and microbial biomass. Pore water was collected using suction cup lysimeters and analyzed for NO₃^-, and PO₄³.  Turf quality, shoot growth, and overall greenness were also evaluated. First year results showed that synthetic and SH fertilizers applied at 6 lbs N (liquid and granular) produced a greater quantity of shoots and better turf quality than the control. Significant differences were not observed in overall turf greenness, extractable NH₄⁺, NO₃^- or PO₄^3-.  Preliminary analysis shows no significant difference in terms of pore water NO₃^- or PO₄³ concentrations. SH fertilizer appears to provide the same results as standard synthetic fertilizer, and may have the potential to increase microbial activity and overall turf quality. Future analysis will determine extractable K⁺ along with microbial activity, microbial biomass, organic matter, total C and N and heavy metal content of the soil.