Soil can be considered a living system formed of numerous entities that:
- breathe (oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide release);
- degrade and decompose complex molecules such as carbohydrates (cellulose), proteins, fats, etc;
- develop several metabolic functions
- release heat during organic matter decom-position.
Soil fertility is affected by all these environ-mental, physical and chemical factors related to plant nutrition, and it is closely related to soil organic matter, through the biological actions of micro-organisms.
The level of micro-orga-nisms in soil and the intensity of their activity depend on the presence of organic matter. Both are greatly influenced by conditions of the sy-stem: soil-plant-environment..
The various forms of soil fertility (physical, che-mical and biological) are linked in a dynamic equilibrium that is affected to considerable by the quantity and quality of the organic matter (natural and/or added).
The conditions regula-ting intensity of the vegetative stages of crops are the same as those that regulate the release of the “hydrolyzed gelatin for agronomic use” produced by ILSA.
The nitrogen organic matrices oxidative pro-cesses taking place in the soil, are:
- MINERALIZATION: : decomposers (such as earthworms, termites, slugs, snails, bacteria and fungi) turn the matrix organic nitrogen into inorganic nitrogen (ammonia and its salts NH4+R).
- NITRIFICATION: conversion of ammonia into nitrites and nitrates by nitrifying bacteria.
Carbon is an essential part of life on Earth, and plays an important role in the biochemical structure and nutrition of all living cells.
To re-produce itself and properly work, an organism must have:
and two of the most common sources of cellular carbon for micro-organisms are carbon dioxide, CO2 and organic carbon.