From By-Products to Fertilizer: Chemical Characterization Using UPLC-QToF-MS via Suspect and Non-Target Screening Strategies

Abstract

The increasing demands of agriculture and the food market have resulted in intensive agricultural practices using synthetic fertilizers to maximize production. However, significant efforts have been made to implement more environmentally friendly procedures, such as composting, to overcome the adverse impact of these invasive practices. In the terms of this research, composting was applied to the production of two biofertilizers, using onion and mushroom by-products as raw materials respectively. The main purposes of this work were to identify the compounds that pass from the raw materials to the final products (onion-based and mushroom-based), as well as the characterization of the chemical profile of these final products following suspect and non-target screening workflows via UPLC-qToF-MS. Overall, 14 common compounds were identified in the onion and its final product, while 12 compounds were found in the mushroom and its corresponding product. These compounds belong to fatty acids, organic acids, and flavonoids, which could be beneficial to plant health. The determination of parameters, such as the pH, conductivity, organic matter, nitrogen content, and elemental analysis, were conducted for the overall characterization of the aforementioned products.

Comprehensive HRMS Chemical Characterization of Pomegranate-Based Antioxidant Drinks via a Newly Developed Suspect and Target Screening Workflow

“…The same gradient elution program was used in both ionization modes. The gradient program is described in detail in a previous work by our group [ 58 ]. The values selected for the MS parameters were a capillary voltage of 3500 V, a nebulizer gas pressure of 2 bar (N 2 ), a drying gas flow rate of 8 L min −1 , and a capillary temperature of 200 °C.…”

“…The same gradient elution program was used in both ionization modes. The gradient program is described in detail in a previous work by our group [58]. The values selected for the MS parameters were a capillary voltage of 3500 V, a nebulizer gas pressure of 2 bar (N 2 ), a drying gas flow rate of 8 L min −1 , and a capillary temperature of 200 • C. The sodium formate calibrant, which was prepared in H 2 O: isopropanol (50:50, v/v), was injected at the beginning of each run to calibrate the Q-ToF system on a daily basis.…”

Longitudinal Plant Health Monitoring via High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry Screening Workflows: Application to a Fertilizer Mediated Tomato Growth Experiment

“…The application of the fertilizer was performed without any further processing of the product. The procedure for obtaining the onion-based fertilizer was described in detail in the authors' previous research [3]. Control samples were used at each time point to eliminate cofounding parameters due to the plant's normal growth.…”

“…10 mM ammonium acetate: MeOH (90:10 v/v) and (B) 10 mM ammonium acetate in MeOH. The LC and MS settings are described in detail in previous work by our group [3]. Both data-independent (broad-band Collision Induced Dissociation -bbCID: DIA) and data-dependent acquisition (AutoMS, DDA) modes were utilized.…”

“…The fertilizer was applied to tomato plants at five time points, covering all anticipated developmental stages of the tomato plant's life cycle, in order to investigate plant health and growth. This fertilizer was comprehensively chemically characterized in a previous study by our research team [3]. The selection of tomatoes, as a model organism, was driven by the plant's financial importance, as well as its widespread adoption as a reference organism for omics analysis [4][5][6][7][8][9].…”