Executive Summary : | Phosphate rocks, the primary source of commercial inorganic phosphorous (P), are limited and nonrenewable, depleting rapidly. The phosphorous use efficiency of inorganic fertilizers is poor due to leaching and complexation with cations in soil. Organic phosphorous sources like bone meal, manures, guano, and human excreta are used but have low P content or limited conversion efficiency. Phytic acid, or phytates, is an abundant source of organic phosphorus found in seeds, nuts, legumes, and unprocessed whole grains. Biomass waste, including de-oiled seeds, bran, grains, and nuts, contains up to 3% of phytate. Phytate can only be converted to plant usable P by enzyme phytase and phosphatase. Soil microbes release phosphatase that converts phytate, but this is limited in most cases and certain soil conditions. Biomass waste, such as rice bran, has intrinsic phytase enzymes that can catalyze the conversion of phytate to plant available phosphorous. However, this enzyme is not significant enough for all phytate to be converted to inorganic P for plant utilization. Therefore, a viable and economical phytase enzyme source is needed to increase phytate degradation and conversion of organic P fertilizer. Whey, a greenish translucent liquid obtained from milk after precipitation of casein, has been viewed as a major disposal problem in the dairy industry. It is rich in lactic acid bacteria (LAB) that produce the enzyme phytase that degrades phytates. Hydrogel beads, which are highly customizable, biodegradable, cost-efficient, and used in agriculture, could be used to incorporate biomass waste and incubate them in whey waste for effective phytase degradation. |