Qusay Murad Nima Al-Shami from Department of Soil Sciences and Water Resources successfully defended his Ph.D. work with the title ” Evaluation of the Efficiency of Black Soldier Fly Fertilizer Compared with Other Organic Fertilizer Sources and Its Effects on the Growth, Yield, and Quality of Eggplant in Calcareous Soil”
he study aimed to prepare Black Soldier Fly (BSF) fertilizer and evaluate its efficiency as an organic fertilizer compared with different sources of organic and mineral fertilizers, as well as to investigate its effects on selected soil fertility, chemical, and physical properties and plant growth. The study also examined the effects of BSF fertilizer on the quantitative and qualitative production of eggplant.
The results showed that the locally prepared fertilizer derived from Black Soldier Fly residues possessed good nutritional characteristics, including N, P, K, C, Fe, and Zn, while containing very low concentrations of certain heavy metals, including Cu, Cd, and Pb.
The study recommends the use of the locally prepared Black Soldier Fly organic fertilizer on a limited experimental scale in calcareous soils, given its initial positive indicators in improving certain soil properties and eggplant growth. It also recommends applying Black Soldier Fly fertilizer as a supplementary organic fertilizer alongside chemical fertilizers at the rates demonstrated to be effective under the current experimental conditions, while avoiding large-scale application until further long-term evaluations are conducted.
