Complementary nutrient effects of separately collected human faeces and urine on the yield and nutrient uptake of spinach (Spinacia oleracea)

A glasshouse experiment was conducted to evaluate the combined use of separately collected human faeces and urine as fertilizer for spinach (Spinacia oleracea) production. Seven human faeces N : urine N combinations (1 : 7 to 7 : 1) each supplying 200 kg N ha(-1) were evaluated along with sole human faeces, sole urine, inorganic fertilizer and an unamended control. Complementary application of the two resources, human faeces and urine, increased fresh and dry matter yields only in treatments having high proportions of urine. Nitrogen uptake followed the same trend but the opposite trend occurred for P uptake indicating that urine was a better source of N whereas human faeces were the better source of P. Potassium uptake was not influenced by the two resources. The minimal improvement observed in the fertilizer value of human faeces when co-applied with urine suggested that co-application of the two resources may not give an added yield advantage when compared with sole human faeces.