Journal of Fundamentals of Renewable Energy and Applications
Open Access
ISSN: 2090-4541
ISSN: 2090-4541
Nicola Senesi
University of Bari, Italy
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Fundam Renewable Energy Appl
Soil organic matter (SOM) is universally recognized to be among the most important factors responsible of soil fertility, crop production, and land protection from contamination, degradation, erosion and desertification. Humic substances (HS) are the most relevant and most chemically, biologically and physically active components of SOM thanks to their typical composition, macromolecular structure, poly-functionality, surface properties, presence of multiple reactive sites, variable sizes and shapes and intrinsic porosity. Crop-residues and animal manures have traditionally been applied to soil as a means for maintaining and increasing SOM content and related fertility functions. Nowadays, recycling as soil organic amendment of biomasses from sewage sledges, municipal solid wastes, food industry by-products and refuses, wood processing wastes and agricultural crop residues, is a very popular and efficient agricultural practice. However, these biomasses are rarely applied to the soil in the ��?fresh��? or ��?raw��? state, but need to be properly processed previous to soil application in order to obtain a mature and stabilized organic material in which the humification process typically occurring under natural soil conditions has developed to an adequate degree producing HSlike materials. In particular, the amount and quality of HS-like components in an organic amendment are considered important indicators of its maturity and stability and a guarantee for its safe impact and successful performance in soil. The main objective of this presentation is to provide a brief overview of the effects of some widely used organic amendments on the composition, molecular structure, chemical functionalities and reactivity of native soil HS.
Email: nicola.senesi@uniba.it