Bio-Based Fertilizers and Soil Health: Innovations for Nutrient Recycling and Environmental Protection

Dear Colleagues,

The maintenance of soil health is crucial in relation to providing good quantities of high-quality food to an increasing worldwide population in a climate change scenario.

Therefore, there is an urgent need to adopt sustainable soil fertilization practices, which lead to a decrease in the production of mineral fertilizers obtained from finite natural resources. Currently, large quantities of effluents are produced by human activities, agro-food technology, or livestock production containing crop nutrients; however, these effluents have some disadvantages such as crop nutrient imbalance, diversified mineral composition, and unknown mineralization rates. To overcome these disadvantages, some approaches have been developed (e.g., composting, vermicomposting, algae-based nutrient recovery, electrodialysis, precipitation, pyrolysis, and hydrothermal carbonization) to produce bio-based fertilizers (BBFs), which aim to recover and recycle nutrients from secondary raw materials, promoting more sustainable soil management practices in conventional and organic agricultural sectors and contributing to close nutrient cycles.

The main purpose of this Special Issue is to gain a deeper understanding of the role of these BBFs through a holistic approach focused on soil health, as well as assessing their biostimulant and/or a pytoprotective behaviour against crop diseases and pests, as well as exploring the increase in the soil’s C content and sequestration. Another topic of interest is the application of rapid, non-destructive, and highly informative ways of investigating the complex physical and chemical properties of soils and fertilisers, such as vibrational spectroscopy. This technique allows for the accurate identification and characterization of the BBFs and soil, as well as their nutrient forms, monitoring transformation processes and quality control, all of which are critical to optimising plant growth while minimising environmental impact.

Prof. Dr. Carmo Horta
Prof. Dr. Ofélia Anjos
Guest Editors

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