Calcium Phosphate Particles Coated with Humic Substances: A Potential Plant Biostimulant from Circular Economy.

Nowadays, the use of biostimulants to reduce agrochemical input is a major trend in agriculture. In this work, we report on calcium phosphate particles (CaP) recovered from the circular economy, combined with natural humic substances (HSs), to produce a plant biostimulant. CaPs were obtained by the thermal treatment of Salmo salar bones and were subsequently functionalized with HSs by soaking in a HS water solution. The obtained materials were characterized, showing that the functionalization with HS did not sort any effect on the bulk physicochemical properties of CaP, with the exception of the surface charge that was found to get more negative. Finally, the effect of the materials on nutrient uptake and translocation in the early stages of development (up to 20 days) of two model species of interest for horticulture, Valerianella locusta and Diplotaxis tenuifolia, was assessed. Both species exhibited a similar tendency to accumulate Ca and P in hypogeal tissues, but showed different reactions to the treatments in terms of translocation to the leaves. CaP and CaP-HS treatments lead to an increase of P accumulation in the leaves of D. tenuifolia, while the treatment with HS was found to increase only the concentration of Ca in V. locusta leaves. A low biostimulating effect on both plants' growth was observed, and was mainly scribed to the low concentration of HS in the tested materials. In the end, the obtained material showed promising results in virtue of its potential to elicit phosphorous uptake and foliar translocation by plants.

Coupling microbial catabolic actions with abiotic redox processes: a new recipe for persistent organic pollutant (POP) removal.

The continuous release of toxic persistent organic pollutants (POPs) into the environment has raised a need for effective cleanup methods. The tremendous natural diversity of microbial catabolic mechanisms suggests that catabolic routes may be applied to the remediation of POP-contaminated fields. A large number of the recalcitrant xenobiotics have been shown to be removable via the natural catabolic mechanisms of microbes, and detailed biochemical studies of the catabolic methods, together with the development of sophisticated genetic engineering, have led to the use of synthetic microbes for the bioremediation of POPs. However, the steric effects of substituted halogen moieties, microbe toxicity, and the low bioavailability of POPs still deteriorate the efficiency of removal strategies based on natural and synthetic catabolic mechanisms. Recently, abiotic redox processes that induce rapid reductive dehalogenation, hydroxyl radical-based oxidation, or electron shuttling have been reasonably coupled with microbial catabolic actions, thereby compensating for the drawbacks of biotic processes in POP removal. In this review, we first compare the pros and cons of individual methodologies (i.e., the natural and synthetic catabolism of microbes and the abiotic processes involving zero-valent irons, advanced oxidation processes, and small organic stimulants) for POP removal. We then highlight recent trends in coupling the biotic-abiotic methodologies and discuss how the processes are both feasible and superior to individual methodologies for POP cleanup. Cost-effective and environmentally sustainable abiotic redox actions could enhance the microbial bioremediation potential for POPs.