Bone meal (orbonemeal) is a mixture of finely and coarsely ground animalbones and slaughter-house waste products.[1] It is used as adietary supplement to supplycalcium andphosphorus to monogastric livestock in the form ofhydroxyapatite, or as a slow-releaseorganic fertilizer to supply phosphorus, calcium, and a small amount of nitrogen to plants.
Bone meal, along with a variety of other meals, especially meat meal, is used as a dietary/mineral supplement forlivestock. The improper application of bone and meat meal products in animal nutrition can contribute to the spread oftransmissible spongiform encephalopathy, commonly known in cattle asMad Cow Disease. Proper heat control can reducesalmonella contaminants.[2]
Bone meal was historically used as ahuman dietary calcium supplement. Research has shown that calcium and lead in their ionic forms (Ca2+, Pb2+) have similar atomic structures and so create a potential for accumulation of lead in bones.[3] American actressAllison Hayes was poisoned in the 1970s with a calcium supplement made from horse bone containing high amounts of lead, which moved theEPA to develop more stringent importation rules.
Bone meal provides phosphorus and calcium to plants, along with a largely inconsequential amount of nitrogen.[4] TheN-P-K rating of bone meal is typically 3–15–0[5] along with a calcium content of around 12% (18% CaO equiv.),[6] although it can vary quite a bit depending on the source from 1–13–0 to 3–22–0.[citation needed]
As bone meal is water-insoluble, it needs to be broken down before the plant can absorb it, either by soil acidity or by microbial activity producing acids. According to theColorado State University, it can only be broken down inacidic soil (pH < 7.0) and releases its nutrients over a span of 1 to 4 months.[5]
The process was first suggested byJustus von Liebig (dissolving animal bones in sulphuric acid) around 1840 and first used inBritain byRev James Robertson inEllon, Aberdeenshire in 1841.[7]
Before Liebig, the expansion of agriculture had depleted the soil of essential nutrients. In desperation, farmers collected the bones from major battlefields like theBattle of Waterloo and theBattle of Austerlitz to crush them and refertilize the soil.[8]
In 19th-century Europe, large-scale production and international trade in bone meal was seen as essential for agricultural development.[9]
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