Spectroscopic characteristics of derivatized humic acids from peat in relation to soil properties and plant growth

6 pages, 3 figures, 21 references.-- Trabajo publicado en la Section 1: Advences in the Chemistry and Biochemistry of Humic Substances: Isolation, Characterization, Functions.-- El libro se titula Humic substances in the Global Environment and Implications on Human Health, consta de 1368 páginas.-- El congreso referido se celebró del 20-25 de septiembre de 1992 en Monopoli (Bari), Italia.

The humic acid from a sapric peat was subjected to several treatments in order to modify its structure and functionality, or to introduce different forms of N. These treatments included methylation, sulphonation, acid and alkaline hydrblysis, nitration, ammonia fixation, amidation, acetylation, oximation, hydrogen peroxide treatment and fixation of stearic acid. The preparations were characterized by routine analyses, solid-state 13C NMR spectrometry and IR derivatographic spectroscopy. In addition, the effect of the K-humates were tested in two soils, where physical and chemical properties, as well as plant growth were evaluated by greenhouse experiments. It was found that some of the latter results were reflected in the spectroscopic patterns of the humic acids used. In this study, the positive humic acid properties in the soil correlated better with the amount of aliphatic structures than with other classical indicators.

The Spanish CICYT (Grant NAT89-(936) for financial support.

Peer reviewed