Assessing the Effects of Soil Humic and Fulvic Acids on Germination and Early Growth of Native and Introduced Grass Varieties
Abstract
The six humic acids (HAs) isolated by the USDA St. Paul group in duplicate from the two Wyoming soils, Guernsey North (GN1 and GN2) and Guernsey South (GS1 and GS2), and one Utah soil, Dugway (D1 and D2), object of this research, were characterized for their moisture and ash contents, elemental (C, H, N, S, O) and acidic functional group composition, and by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and fluorescence spectroscopy in the emission, excitation and synchronous scan modes. For the remainder of the contract period (20 months) research plans are the following: (a) Experiments on the germination and early growth of the two introduced varieties Vavilov and SERP-select Siberian wheatgrass as affected by the three HAs, D-HA, GS-HA, and GN-HA. (b) Chemical and spectroscopic characterization of HAs isolated from greenhouse soils. (c) Experiments on the germination and early growth of the four grass varieties, alone or in combination (based on the growth differences found in the initial studies conducted at CRREL), as affected by the greenhouse soil HAs. (d) Follow-up experiments with HA concentrations optimal to promote the growth of the four grass varieties. (e) Correlation of the germination and seedling growth data with chemical and physico-chemical parameters of the HAs examined, in order to find out the HA parameters influencing germination and growth of the plant varieties examined.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 06, 2005
- Accession Number
- ADA462006
Entities
People
- Nicola Senesi
Organizations
- University of Bari