Manure
organic matter, mostly derived from animal feces, used as agricultural fertilizer
Manure is organic matter that is used as organic fertilizer in agriculture. Most manure consists of animal feces; other sources include compost and green manure. Manures contribute to the fertility of soil by adding organic matter and nutrients, such as nitrogen, that are utilised by bacteria, fungi, and other organisms in the soil. Higher organisms then feed on the fungi and bacteria in a chain of life that comprises the soil food web.
Types
There are in the 21st century three main classes of manures used in soil management, as laid out below. The term artificial manure, formerly in wide use, referred to artificial fertilizers; the latter term is the one usually used today for such manures.
Animal manure
Most animal manure consists of feces. Common forms of animal manure include farmyard manure (or farm slurry (liquid manure). Farmyard manure also contains plant material (often straw), which has been used as bedding for animals and has absorbed the feces and urine. Agricultural manure in liquid form, known as slurry, is produced by more intensive livestock rearing systems where concrete or slats are used instead of straw bedding.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Manure” is organic matter, mostly derived from animal feces, used as agricultural fertilizer. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Manure, organic and matter, not as a finished interpretation.
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Stable identifiers, scientific names and standards terminology offer the best bridge between this overview and specialist evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q185716. The Library of Congress control number is sh85080667. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Manure” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.