Assessment of Solvita Test Kit Reliability: OSU Report

$0.00

Changa, Michel and Hoitink of Ohio State University report on the Solvita test kit as used for three types of manure composting. From the report:

“The Solvita® maturity index, a combination of Solvita CO2 and NH3 values, correlated significantly with both CO2 evolution rate and ammoniacal-N concentrations. However, the Solvita CO2 index alone was the best predictor of compost CO2 evolution rate or stability. The Solvita Maturity test, which combines the Solvita CO2 and NH3 tests, provided useful information about the potential for the development of a toxic response in plants due to excessive concentrations of ammoniacal-N present in some stable compost samples that would not have been detected if the CO2 stability test were used by itself. We conclude that the Solvita maturity test provided a simple, inexpensive relative test of compost stability and NH3 emission for diverse samples of composted manures.”