The practice of intensive cultivation (growing of crops all year round without rest for the soil) depletes soil nutrients and its organic component. The depletion of organic matter in the soil gradually leads to loss of soil fertility. To maintain economic yields it is important for the farmer to replenish the organic content of the soil to restore its fertility.
Fertilizers can broadly be grouped as organic or inorganic(chemical). The term organic fertilizer embraces all types of fertilizers containing organic matter that provides nutrient elements required for plant growth. The values of such fertilizers lie in their soil-conditioning properties whilst their source o nutrient elements could be considered as low. Examples are poultry manure, bonemeal, fishmeal, soya bean meal, etc. Chemical fertilizers include all types of fertilizers containing elements like Nitrogen, Phosphorous, Potassium, Magnesium, Calcium, Sulphur, etc. Such fertilizers are highly concentrated and contain definite amounts of plant nutrient(s) in them. Chemical fertilizers are appropriate when large doses need to be supplied to plants. Examples are Muriate of Potash(60% K2O), Urea (46% N), etc.
Osaka specializes in organic-chemical fertilizers which are marketed under the trade name of Sunray®. The products are manufactured from composted soya bean, tapioca and rice bran wastes and fortified with nutrients from chemical fertilizers and agglomerated into granules.
Sunray® is a complete fertilizer containing all plant nutrients, required for healthy plant growth, including Macronutrients like Nitrogen, Phosphorous, Potassium, Magnesium, Calcium, Sulphur, and Micronutrients like Boron, Copper, Iron, Manganese, Zinc, Molybdenum, Silicon, etc. It also contains a substantial proportion of organic matter which acts as a soil-conditioner by improving soil structure, soil aeration and water retention capacity of the soil. The organic component also increases the cation exchange capacity (c.e.c.) of the soil thereby significantly reducing the rate of leaching of highly soluble nutrients like Potassium (K+).
The chemical fortification process also ensures that the product contains sufficient nutrients required for healthy plant growth and maximum crop yield. The product is also consistent in their nutrient analyses and can fit into agronomically planned fertilizer programmed adopted by the larger commercial growers or plantations.
Sunray® is both a fertilizer and soil-conditioner. Its regular application to farmland, orchards and plantations is guaranteed to improve soil structure and maintain soil fertility. Sunray® offers the ideal solution to long term soil management as a safeguard against soil exhaustion under perennial cropping of intensive cash cropping. Sunray® protects the farmer’s investment in land to ensure that it yields an acceptable level of income in the long term.