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CASTOR MEAL :

TOR MEAL : Castor meal - the residue obtained from castor cake - is one of the most versatile natural manures. It serves as organic manure that enhances the fertility of the soil without causing any damage or decay. It is enriched with three big elements which will be vital and conducive to the proper growth of crops - Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium. It also has traces of nutrients like Manganese, Zinc and Copper, thus making it a balanced fertiliser.

Advantages :

1. Provides all the major & minor nutrients necessary for better plant growth

2. Helps in increasing the nutrients uptake by plants

3. Improves soil fertility and Productivity ; improves yield & quality of the farm produce

4. Protects plants from nematodes and termites.
Main Uses of Castor Meal
 The two primary uses of castor meal today are as fertilizer and as fuel

Benefits of castor cake as a soil fertilizer :

  • Increasing yield
  • Improving soil P indices
  • Increasing cane yeild and sucrose content in juice
  • Increasing N content in grain and straw
  • Controlling nematodes
  • Increasing tuber yield

Plants best fertilized by castor de- oilded cake :

Maize, Sugarcane, Rice, Banana, Jute, Tomato, Wheat/Barley, Potato and Tobacco

Castor Meal Composition

Nutrient Content of Deoiled Castor Cake/Meal

A Typical Composition of Castor residue / meal is as follows :

Organic Matter 80-85% (The organic matter consists of proteins about 32-33%, fibers about 25-30%, as content - about 6 %)

Nitrogen : 5%

Phosphorus (as P205) : 2%

Potassium : 1.25% - 1.5 %

Moisture : 10% max . approx.

Oil Content : 0.7% max. approx.

It also contain some micro nutrients viz, Calcium, Magnesium, Sulphur, Iron, Zinc, Manganese,Copper etc.

Castor meal is an excellent fertilizer because of high content of N (6.4%), Phosphoric Acid (2.55%),Potash (1%) and moisture retention.

The protein content of castor seed meal varies between 21-48% depending upon the extent of decortications. It has an ideal amino acid profile with moderately high cysteine, methionine, and isoleucine.

While it is rich in proteins, castor cake be used as cattle fodder because of its toxicity