title: Blood meal-based compound. Good choice as iron fertilizer for organic farming.
abstract: Prevention of iron chlorosis with Fe synthetic chelates is a widespread agronomical practice but implies high costs and environmental risks. Blood meal is one of the main fertilizers allowed to be used in organic farming. Through this work a novel blood meal fertilizer was audited. Measurements such as FTIR, Raman, electron paramagnetic resonance, and Mössbauer spectroscopy, UV-visible properties, stability against pH, and batch experiments were performed to characterize and assess the reactivity on soil constituents and agronomic soils. The spectroscopy findings give clear indications that Fe is in the ferric oxidation state, is hexacoordinated, and has a low-spin form suggesting a similar structure to hemin and hematin. A spectrophotometric method at 400 nm was validated to quantify blood meal concentration at low electrolyte concentrations. Batch experiments demonstrated high reactivity of blood meal fertilizer with soil constituents, mainly in the presence of calcium, where aggregation processes are predominant, and its ability to take Fe from synthetic Fe (hydr)oxides. The beneficial profile of blood meal by a providing nitrogen source together with the capability to keep the Fe bound to porphyrin organic compounds makes it a good candidate to be used as Fe fertilizer in organic farming.
authors.affiliation: Department of Geology and Geochemistry, Faculty of Science, University Autonoma of Madrid , Avenida Francisco Tomás y Valiente, 7, 28049 Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Felipe
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Yunta
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Di Foggia
authors.forename: Violeta
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Bellido-Díaz
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Morales-Calderón
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Tessarin
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: López-Rayo
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tinti
authors.forename: Krisztina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kovács
authors.forename: Zoltán
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Klencsár
authors.forename: Ferenc
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fodor
authors.forename: Adamo Domenico
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Rombolà
mesh_terms: D001769:Blood; D004578:Electron Spin Resonance Spectroscopy; D005290:Ferric Compounds / Q000737:chemistry*; D005308:Fertilizers / Q000032:analysis*; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D058871:Organic Agriculture / Q000379:methods*; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D015204:Spectroscopy, Mossbauer
chemical_list: D005290:Ferric Compounds; D005308:Fertilizers; D012987:Soil