IS HUMIC ACID ENHANCING THE EFFICACY OF THE FERTILIZERS?

Aakancha Shaw, St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata

Humic acid (HA) is a natural, organic compound that is derived from plant and animal residues. It was observed that on combining it with the phosphate-based fertilizers, the efficiency of the fertilizer for plants was enhanced. Since then, humic acid supplements have been used to increase the efficiency of phosphate fertilizers, the corresponding product is called humic acid-enhanced phosphate fertilizer (HAP). Field studies reported that HAP showed a better crop yield than the commonly used phosphate fertilizers. The possible causes being: 

• By reducing the soil pH.
• Increasing the available phosphate content (by the formation of bioavailable P nanoparticles).
• Promoting the uptake of P by plants (by converting insoluble P into dissolved P).

However, a major point was out looked by the scientists i.e. the generation of high temperature during the exothermic reaction of preparing HAP.

Recent observations have shown that a very high temperature is generated during the preparation of HAP, due to which the structure of humic acid cracks hence altering the composition and structure. Results showed that PHA had poor hydrophilicity compared to humic acid and the relative content of carboxyl groups was higher in PHA. The sole cause being the structural alteration during the preparation of humic acid-enhanced phosphate fertilizer.

Compared with raw humic acid that stimulated the uptake of nutrients, HAP showed worse effects in promoting the growth of the plants and the uptake of nutrients. The above-mentioned worse effects might be attributed to the poor hydrophilicity and unsuitable addition amount of PHA.

Thus, the question arose: Is humic acid enhancing the efficacy of the fertilizers?

Probably, no!

Also read: NEW INSIGHTS INTO MALARIA VECTOR IN LAOS COUNTRY

SOURCE:

Jing, J., Zhang, S., Yuan, L. et al. Combining humic acid with phosphate fertilizer affects the humic acid structure and its stimulating efficacy on the growth and nutrient uptake of maize seedlings. Sci Rep 10, 17502 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-74349-6

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