Laboratory tests on some hoof and horn materials used in horticulture. I.—Raw samples without preliminary heat treatment

✍ Scribed by O. Owen; G. W. Winsor; M. I. E. Long

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1953
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 693 KB
• Volume: 4
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-5142
• DOI: 10.1002/jsfa.2740040904

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Twenty‐two samples of raw hoof and horn materials have been examined in the laboratory with particular reference to their nitrogenous constituents. The samples, which included hoof, horn and mixtures of these two materials, were milled in the laboratory before testing. The nitrogen content of the samples and their ‘availability’ in the soil, as shown by incubation for 10 weeks, indicate that hoof and horn materials constitute a reasonably homogeneous class of nitrogenous fertilizer. Considerable differences were, however, found in the initial rates of mineralization of nitrogen from the samples.

Highly significant correlations were found between the initial rates of mineralization of nitrogen and the bulk densities and ease of hydrolysis of the samples. Hoof was at first more rapidly decomposed in the soil than horn, though after incubation for 10 weeks there was little difference between the two. Soil tests made with different sieved fractions of hoof and horn showed that the nitrogen of the finest particles was most rapidly mineralized at first, but the coarsest samples ultimately showed the highest ‘availability’.