Maite Olaetxea, a native of Etxalar (Navarra), Chemistry of the University of Navarra, has unraveled the mechanisms of action of humus - the substance that comes from the decomposition of organic remains by beneficial organisms and microorganisms - traditionally used to enrich the soil due to its influence on the development of plants.

In her doctoral thesis - carried out thanks to the partnership between the Departments of Chemistry and Environmental Biology of the academic center and the department of research and development of Timac Agro - the researcher has confirmed that this organic subject "is, besides being a fundamental part of the biosphere, one of the most abundant forms that exist of organic subject , hence it has been applied in agriculture since time immemorial. However, until now it was not known how it works in depth".

Among the conclusions of their work -directed by Full Professor of Chemistry Agricultural and Soil Science José María García-Mina and Roberto Baigorri, from Timac-Agro- is the confirmation that humus acts on roots and leaves improving water transport between them and even affects the regulation Genetics of root aquaporins, the proteins that allow the entrance of water in the cells. "We then focused on studying the specific chemical Structures that causes the biological response in the plant using cucumber as an example. What we discovered was that the more aromatic fractions had more plant growth, both in roots and leaves," Maite emphasizes.

Next goal: optimizing fertilizers

The fact of knowing what humus is and how it works is useful to optimize plant growth using this natural subject : "We have confirmed that in horticulture we must combine the mineral contribution with the natural humus, since they are two types of nutrition necessary to improve plant growth. And now we know why: because humus improves the utilization of water that reaches the plants, and that advantage is what results in a greater development".

Likewise, this finding can be oriented to the improvement of existing fertilizers, which despite combining part mineral and part organic, are not based on the deep knowledge of humus functioning, which can open new ways of improvement. "It is necessary to explore new resources from which to extract humus and test, based on the model of operation exposed in this research, if it is equally efficient in the development of plants", concludes the new doctor of the group of Chemistry and Agricultural Biology of the University of Navarra.