Human urine used to fertilise vineyards

ast week, the Gironde start-up company Toopi took part in Vinitech for the very first time. France’s national agency for food safety, the environment and labour, ANSES, has given the go-ahead for its Lactipi Plus to be released for sale. Lactipi Plus is a bio-stimulant produced from human urine which is collected in composting toilets installed in motorway service stations, the Futuroscope theme park and at various festivals such as Rock en Seine and Solidays. “Once stabilised and sanitised, we add sugar to it and the Lactobacillus paracasei strain of bacteria”, points out Toopi marketing manager Jean-David Kakou. Once fermented, “it only requires 25 litres per hectare of urine to dissolve 35kg of phosphorous, compared with 17,000 litres in its raw state”, he adds.

Lactipi Plus is sold as a stimulant for the vines’ root system and mycorrhiza and enhances absorption of water and nutriments in the rhizosphere. “It saves 12 litres of water per litre of product and reduces usage of mineral fertilisers and carbon emissions with no loss of yield”, claims Kakou.

Toopi recommends quantities of 5 litres/hectare in three passes – 2 l/ha just before flowering, 1.5 l/ha at fruit set and 1.5 l/ha at veraison. The bio-stimulant needs to be diluted to one litre for 9 litres of water in a vaporiser or spray and applied to the foot of the vines. Forty days after the first application, as a complement to conventional fertilisation, the company’s initial trials have shown an increase of around 10% in cane and leaf growth.