Potential Benefits and Risks for Soil Health Derived From the Use of Organic Amendments in Agriculture

Abstract

The use of organic amendments in agriculture is a common practice due to their potential to increase crop productivity and enhance soil health. Indeed, organic amendments of different origin and composition (e.g., animal slurry, manure, compost, sewage sludge, etc.) can supply valuable nutrients to the soil, as well as increase its organic matter content, with concomitant benefits for soil health. However, the application of organic amendments to agricultural soil entails a variety of risks for environmental and human health. Organic amendments often contain a range of pollutants, including heavy metals, persistent organic pollutants, potential human pathogens, and emerging pollutants. Regarding emerging pollutants, the presence of antibiotic residues, antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and antibiotic-resistance genes in agricultural amendments is currently a matter of much concern, due to the concomitant risks for human health. Similarly, currently, the introduction of microplastics to agricultural soil, via the application of organic amendments (mainly, sewage sludge), is a topic of much relevance, owing to its magnitude and potential adverse effects for environmental health. There is, currently, much interest in the development of efficient strategies to mitigate the risks associated to the application of organic amendments to agricultural soil, while benefiting from their numerous advantages.

Biochar, Vermicompost, and Compost as Soil Organic Amendments: Influence on Growth Parameters, Nitrate and Chlorophyll Content of Swiss Chard (Beta vulgaris L. var. cycla)

“…Biochar is a carbon-rich, solid material obtained by biomass (manure, sewage sludge, wood biomass and crop residues) pyrolysis in an oxygen-limited environment [18][19][20][21]. The effects of their addition to agricultural soils depend on a number of factors, including feedstock properties and processing conditions, application rate, soil type, environmental conditions, and crop species [22,23]. About the latter, the yield response to compost or biochar applications are often contrasting; generally, either positive or negative and sometimes also neutral effects on crop yield and quality have been reported [13,24].…”

Type IV Coupling Proteins as Potential Targets to Control the Dissemination of Antibiotic Resistance

“…In order to both inform and sensitize governments and the society in general, the World Health Organization presented a list of the most critical antibiotic-resistant pathogen species ( Tacconelli et al, 2018 ). Although inevitably much more attention has been paid to the magnitude of this problem in hospital settings, the role of the environment on the emergence and dissemination of antibiotic resistance has been relatively recently recognized ( Garbisu et al, 2018 ; Urra et al, 2019a , b , c ).…”

Amelioration of Adverse Effect of Drought on Rice (Oryza sativa L.) Variety BRRI Dhan28 through Application of Poultry Litter Based Compost

“…Meelu and Singh (1991) showed that 4 t ha -1 poultry manure along with 60 kg N ha -1 as urea produced grain yield of crop similar to that with 120 kg Nha -1 as urea alone. But direct application of poultry manure have negative effect on soil health (Urra et al, 2019). That's why it needs be composted.…”