Journal of Ecology and Rural Environment ›› 2024, Vol. 40 ›› Issue (2): 276-284.doi: 10.19741/j.issn.1673-4831.2023.0359

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Spectral Characteristics and Molecular Weight Distribution of Humic Acid and Fulvic Acid Derived from Different Composts

CHEN Dan1, CHENG Ao1, YU Xu-fang1, JI Wen-chao1,2, LIU Jian-jian1,2, WANG Xiang1,2, LIU Xiao-long1, FAN Xing-jun1,2   

  1. 1. College of Resource and Environment, Anhui Science and Technology University, Fengyang 233100, China;
    2. Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Biochar and Cropland Pollution Prevention, Bengbu 233400, China
  • Received:2023-04-26 Online:2024-02-25 Published:2024-02-24

Abstract: Humic substances (HSs) were separated from the chicken manure compost supplemented with Herb Residue (HR), Wheat Straw (WS) and Rice Husk (RH) as additives, respectively. The HSs were subjected to comprehensive characterization on chemical composition and structures. UV-vis spectra analysis show that all compost-derived humic acid (HA) exhibited stronger aromaticity than folvic acid (FA), with HR-HA and RH- HA displaying more pronounced aromaticity than WS-FA. Regional volume integration of fluorescence excitation-emission matrix spectra indicate that HA contained a higher proportion of humic-like substances (Ⅲ+Ⅴ, 86%-91%) than FA (56%-64%), while FA comprised a higher percentage of protein-like substances (Ⅰ+Ⅱ, 28%-37%) than HA (5%-9%). These findings suggest that HA exhibits a higher humification degree and larger molecular weight. In addition, RH-FA and WS-FA were enriched in humic-like acids and fulvic-like acids, respectively, while HR-FA exhibited abundance in tyrosine-like organic compounds. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis reveal that FA contained more amide and carboxylic acid structures than HA. In comparison, HR-FA, WS-FA and RH-FA exhibited a higher content of aromatic carboxylic acid, amide and polysaccharide structures, respectively. Elemental analysis results indicate that HA exhibited a higher C/N ratio and lower O/C ratio than FA, suggesting a higher presence of unsaturated groups in the former and a higher proportion of O-containing groups in the latter. In addition, HSs in WS compost owned a higher aliphatic degree. High performance size exclusion chromatography analysis demonstrates that HA present a broader distribution of high-molecular weight component (>2×104 Da) than FA. Consequently, HA exhibited 2.7-3.1 and 1.5-1.6 times higher Mw and Mn than FA, respectively. The molecular weight distributions of compost HSs varied with different additives. Notably, the Mn of compost HSs followed the order of HR > RH > WS, indicating that HSs in compost with herb residue addition owned the largest molecular weight and humification. In total, the consistent differences in composition and structure were found between HA and FA across different types of organic manure. Moreover, various additives had a significant impact on the composition and structure of same type of manure HSs (i.e., HA or FA).

Key words: compost, humic acid, fulvic acid, spectral characteristics, molecular weight distribution

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