Organic fertilisers like anaerobic digestate—the nutrient-rich slurry left after biogas production—can help make farming more sustainable. Soil organisms play a key role in turning these nutrients into forms plants can use. Digestate affects this soil life in different ways depending on its carbon content: low-carbon digestate has little impact, while high-carbon digestate boosts microbial abundance and diversity. Easily degradable carbon promotes fast-growing bacteria, whereas more resistant carbon favours fungi and Gram-positive bacteria. However, surface-dwelling soil animals such as earthworms, nematodes, and springtails may be harmed when digestate contains high levels of ammonia. More research is needed on how repeated digestate use affects soil life and long-term soil health.
The-Impact-of-Anaerobic-Digestate-on-Soil-Life-A-Review.pdf
Paper
Tags: Circular economy, Soil health
Written by Maria Dodou
Dr. Maria Zachariou-Dodou is civil and public health engineer, with MSc degree from University College London and PhD in Chemical Engineering from NTUA in the field of wastewater treatment and reuse. She has 40-year experience in working both in the public sector in Cyprus, as well as in the private sector in a large number of countries with emphasis on water resources management, water treatment and reuse, and desalination processes. She has a great experience in designing and implementing EU funded projects mostly dealing with providing innovative solutions to environmental challenges.
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