Characterization of Vitamin B 12 Compounds in Fermented Poultry Manure Fertilizers

(1) Background: Currently, no data are available on the vitamin B 12 content of an organic fertilizer product, viz. fermented poultry manure, or whether the organic fertilizer product contains vitamin B 12 or inactive corrinoids (or both). (2) Methods: This study conducted a microbiological assay to determine the vitamin B 12 content of various commercially available fermented poultry manure fertilizer products. (3) Results: The results varied from 1.4 μg to approximately 20 μg per 100 g of dry weight. In the bioautography analysis, selected products had two positive spots with identical R f values of vitamin B 12 and pseudovitamin B 12. High-performance liquid chromatography and liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization−mass spectrometry analyses of the selected products indicated that these fertilizers primarily contained vitamin B 12 . They also contained minor inactive cobamides such as pseudovitamin B 12 , 2-methyladenyl cobamide, and 2-methylmercaptoadenyl cobamide. (4) Conclusions: These results suggested that edible plants would enrich vitamin B 12 using fermented poultry manure organic fertilizer products.