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.
Highlights
The use of organic amendments in agriculture is a common practice due to their potential to increase crop productivity and enhance soil health
Agronomy 2019, 9, 542 is recurrently defined as the capacity of a given soil to perform its functions. Both terms are often used interchangeably, soil quality is normally associated with a soil’s fitness for a specific use, whereas soil health is frequently used in a broader sense to indicate “the capacity of soil to function as a vital living system to sustain biological productivity, promote environmental quality, and maintain plant and animal health” [6]
antibiotic-resistance genes (ARGs) and/or the plasmids that encode those genes. This technology still exhibits several important drawbacks [232]: (i) finding an appropriate delivery vector, since phages or conjugative plasmids normally show narrow host ranges; (ii) unpredictability of the response of the microbial community following the introduction of a delivery vector, due to the inherent complexity of microbial communities; (iii) evolution of resistance to CRISPR/Cas through mutation of the target hosts and/or by exhibiting anti-CRISPR activity; and (iv) legislative and social barriers regarding the release of gene-editing systems to the environment, as well as a lack of unanimous acceptance by the scientific community
Summary
In order to feed the constantly growing human population, it was estimated that food production will have to be doubled within the few decades [1]. Developing strategies and tools to promote agricultural sustainability whilst maximizing crop yields will be a major challenge for the decades, in an attempt to meet the abovementioned goal of food production while protecting the integrity of our environment. In this context, ecological intensification was advocated as a suitable approach to integrate ecological processes into agricultural practices, in order to simultaneously enhance the delivery of ecosystem services and reduce, or even replace, the external anthropogenic inputs [8]. The aim of this review article (focusing, but not exclusively, on research papers published in the last 10 years) is to highlight the potential benefits and drawbacks associated to the use of organic amendments as agricultural fertilizers, while addressing the existing strategies and technologies to mitigate the potential downsides
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
