Neem Abstract Courtesy of Dr. Elaine Ingham, Soil Food Web for Agrogreen Canada

The main active ingredient of Neem is Azadirachtin. Neem is an excellent organic fertilizer. Indian farmers have traditionally used Neem as a fertilizer in their fields. Neem leaves have also been used to enrich the soil, together, they are widely used in India to fertilize cash crops. Farmers in southern parts of India puddle neem leaves into flooded rice fields before the rice seedling are transplanted. Application of neem to crops provides them with various nutrients. Neem can also reduce alkalinity in the soil by producing organic acids when mixed with the soil. The calcium and magnesium present in neem also aid in removing alkalinity.

Neem for soil fertility and fertilizer management:

Good soil fertility means good crop yields. Preventing the loss of plant nutrients from an eco system is important for soil fertility management. Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium (NPK) are the three major elements that determine soil fertility and should be ideally present in 4:2:1 ratio.

Neem Oil:

High quality Neem seed kernels are crushed to extract Neem Oil using a proprietary cold pressing process that enhances/retains natural levels of azadirachtin to a minimum of 1800 ppm.

Typical Micro Nutrient Analysis of Neem Oil:
Neem Oil is used as a "liquid plant feed" or liquid fertilizer.

Azadirachtin 1800ppm
Total Nitrogen 1.20% by mass
Phosphorus as p 0.07% by mass
Potassium as K 0.01% by mass
Magnesium as Mg 0.03% by mass
Copper as Cu 10 ppm
Magnesium, as Mn 0.40 ppm
Zinc as Zn 20.00 ppm
Iron content 14.00 ppm

Specification: 1800 ppm Azadirachtin
Dosage: 1.0 liter per hectare
Suggested dilution: 1:200 in water
Packing: In 200 litre sea worthy barrels.

Neem as Soil Conditioner and Organic Manure

Neem Info Compliments of www.natureneem.com

Neem Cake, the by-product obtained in the process of cold pressing of Neem fruits and kernels, is used as organic manure. It has adequate quantity of NPK in organic form for plant growth. Neem cake typically contains about 6% neem oil and min. 4% nitrogen, 0.5 % phosphorus and 0.5% potassium. Being totally botanical product it contains 100% natural NPK content and other essential micro nutrients. It is rich in both sulphur compounds and bitter limonoids.

According to research calculations, neem cake seems to make soil more fertile due to an ingredient that blocks soil bacteria from converting nitrogenous compounds into nitrogen gas. It is a nitrification inhibitor and prolongs the availability of nitrogen to both short duration and long duration crops. It acts as a natural fertilizer. Neem cake is widely used in India to fertilize paddy, cotton and sugarcane. It is harmless to earthworms - in fact earthworm populations are known to proliferate in plots treated with neem cake.

Neem as a Fertilizer Efficiency Improving Product

Neem is decomposed only slowly, leading to a slower release of nutrients contained in it. The slow release of nutrients is attributed to the presence to the various extractable principles in seed and cake and these extractives are used as rewarding adjuvant for nitrogenous fertilizers such as urea. It is estimated that out of the total quantity of urea applied to crops, about 50- 70% is lost in various forms, thereby reducing the availability of nitrogen to crops. There is an age old practice in India of blending neem cake with urea. When neem cake is blended with urea, it forms a fine coating and protects the loss of Nitrogen by denitrification ensuring regulated continuous availability of nitrogen for a longer period, as per the requirement of crops. Neem seed cake also stimulates the phosphorus uptake slightly but had no effect on potassium uptake.

Studies on Neem Cake as a Source of Nitrogen Its Effect on Soil Microbes and as an Inhibitor of Pesticides Degradation

The following download (PDF) is an excellent Thesis by Shahida Akhtar for the Department of Microbiology, University of Karachi.

View it here (PDF)

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