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Chicken manure and humic acid lifted harvests by about 46%
The full reading behind my Short: big yield gains from organic extras, and why the cause is not proven yet.
The short version
From 2021 to 2025, researchers at Heilongjiang Bayi Agricultural University compared chemical fertiliser alone with fertiliser plus humic acid (3,000 kg/ha) or plus composted chicken manure (1,500 kg/ha) on alkaline black soil (pH about 8.2) [1]. Average yields reached 12.47 and 12.50 tonnes per hectare, increases of 45.9% and 46.3% over fertiliser alone [1].
~46%higher average yield vs fertiliser alone [1]
5 yearsfield trial, 2021–2025 [1]
pH 8.2alkaline black soil at the start [1]
~0.25pH units lower after five years [1]
Two different strengths
Humic acid showed the steepest upward yield trend (about 1.47 t/ha per year), suggesting stronger long-term yield building [1]. Chicken manure gave the most stable harvests from year to year [1]. Soil pH fell slightly, from 8.26 to about 8.0 [1].
Watch the Short
About this page
The Short uses real, illustrative photos from Wikimedia Commons (credited below); they are not photos of the study itself. This page is general science news, not farming advice.
The big caveat
- Extra nutrients. The organic materials were added at local recommended rates, so they also supplied extra nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium [1].
- No matching control. There was no equal-nutrient fertiliser plot, so the gains cannot yet be pinned on the materials themselves, the pH shift or soil microbes [1].
- Next steps. The authors call for trials with balanced nutrient controls [1].
Full narration (transcript)
Could chicken manure boost harvests by nearly half? A five year field trial in northeast China says it lifted yields by about forty six percent. The black soils there are alkaline, with a pH of about eight point two, which can lock up nutrients. The region is one of the world's most important grain producing areas. Researchers compared chemical fertiliser alone, and fertiliser plus humic acid, or plus composted chicken manure. Every plot grew the same crop variety, under the same management. Both extras raised average yields by about forty six percent, to roughly twelve and a half tonnes per hectare. Humic acid's yields kept climbing faster from year to year. Chicken manure gave the steadiest harvests from one year to the next. Soil pH fell only slightly, by about a quarter of a unit. But there's a big caveat: the organic extras also added more nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. There was no matching fertiliser control, so the exact cause isn't proven yet. The study was published in Frontiers in Agronomy.
Sources
- [1] Jiang, Y., Zhang, Y., Zhang, H. & Li, Y. (2026). Long-term effects of combined application of chemical fertilizers and organic materials... Frontiers in Agronomy 8, 1948938. doi:10.3389/fagro.2026.1948938. Summary: scienmag.com (16 Oct 2026)
Credits
Photos (illustrative, Wikimedia Commons): Poultry manure waiting to be spread - geograph.org.uk - 6077 (David Pashley, CC BY-SA 2.0); John Deere Combine Harvester Ebing 1828 (Ermell, CC BY-SA 4.0); Black Earth - Prokhorovka - Russia (Adam Jones, CC BY-SA 3.0); Fränkische Schweiz Getreideernte-20210815-RM-122354 (Ermell, CC BY-SA 4.0); DAP (Diammonium Phosphate) Granules (1) (Suyash Dwivedi, CC BY-SA 4.0); Bamberg Mähdrescher beim Abladen 1260044 (Ermell, CC BY-SA 4.0); Комбајн кај Бараково (Деан Лазаревски, CC BY-SA 4.0); Lignite-coal (Edal Anton Lefterov, CC BY-SA 3.0); A delivery of poultry manure at Abbey Mains - geograph.org.u (M J Richardson, CC BY-SA 2.0); CSIRO ScienceImage 1739 Testing soil pH (CSIRO Forestry and Forest Products, CSIR, CC BY 3.0); DAP (Diammonium Phosphate) Granules (3) (Suyash Dwivedi, CC BY-SA 4.0); Kalkammonsalpeter (User:Rasbak, CC BY-SA 3.0); Vitoria-University-Library-food-science-journals-4490 (Vmenkov, CC BY-SA 3.0).