Defecation Slime

(defecate), the lime-containing waste from beet sugar manufacture. It is formed when sugar-beet juice is purified, the yield being 8-12 percent of the beet processed. Fresh defecation slime contains about 40 percent water. After drying to a friable condition (25-30 percent moisture), its composition is 60-75 percent calcium carbonate (with a trace of caustic), 10-15 percent organic material, 0.2-0.7 percent nitrogen, 0.2-0.9 percent phosphorus (P₂O₅), 0.5-1 percent potassium (K₂O), and some magnesium, sulfur, and trace elements. It is a good lime fertilizer: in the USSR, primarily in regions where sugar beet is cultivated, up to 3 million tons per annum are used to lime turf-podzols and gray forest soils and podzolized and high-alkali chernozems with a hydrolytic acidity not less than 2 mg-equivalents per 100 g. The dose of defecation slime (calculated on full hydrolytic acidity) is 3-5 tons per hectare.