Humic substances-

Formation, Nature and

properties, Theories of
Humus formation

K. Maheshwaran, Asst.Prof. (SS&AC)

Sethu Bhaskara Agricultural College &
Research Foundation
Humus nature and properties
 Highly colloidal and amorphous nature
 Surface area and adsorptive capacity are much
higher than that of clay colloids
 CEC is very high
 Humus has high water adsorptive capacity than
clay
 Humic acids are weakly dissociated and
determine the buffering capacity of soil
 Significantly low plasticity and cohesion
 Humus has more functional group are more
important in soil processes
 Helps to develops good soil structure
 Development of soil colour is influenced by
humus
 Improve water holding capacity, rate of
infiltration, porosity of the soil
Colloidal properties
 Soil humus contains modified lignin, polyuronides
and other constituents

 They carry a large number of negative charges

 Humic micelles composed of C, H, O with trace

amount of N, S, P and other elements

 Exposed functional groups –COOH and –OH

 Humic micelles adsorb some elements like Ca, H+,

Mg, K, Na etc
Difference between organic
matter and Humus
Humus Organic matter
1. Complex and rather 1. Easily decomposed
resistant mixture of due to attack by soil
brown or dark microorganisms
brown amorphous
colloidal substances

2. More stable 2. Less stable

Humus formation
 Biochemical process, rather complicated

 Synthesized by variety of micro organisms

 Humification depends on the their chemical

composition and soil conditions influencing soil
micro organisms

 On reaching the soil, organic residue of plant

and animal origin undergone diverse changes
 Diverse changes
• Destructive changes
• Physical action of natural factors (Rain fall, wind etc and
1 man)

• Changes in chemical nature of organic residue

• Oxidation of fat by light and aromatic compound by soil
2
• Effect of tissue enzymes
• Forming complex dark coloured products
3 • Oxidation of tannin, polyphenols and aromatic amino acids
Humus from plant and animal
residues

Decomposition of original
components

Synthesis of organic
compounds
 Decomposition of original components of plant
and animal tissues and their conversion by
micro organisms into mineralization

 The synthesis of organic compounds with the

formation of high molecular weight of humus
substances of nature
Humus fraction
 Humified compounds
Humic acid Fulvic acid Humin
Medium molecular Low molecular weight High molecular weight
weight
Contain less oxygen, Contain more oxygen, It contains less N
more carbon and less carbon and
nitrogen nitrogen
Soluble in dilute alkali Alkali and acid soluble Acid and alkali
insoluble
Precipitate in dilute Extracted by
acid 2Na2CO3

Resistance to Susceptible for Most resistant to

degradation microbial attack microbial attack
 Compounds

• Nitrogenous
Humus • Eg. Protenaceous

• Non nitrogenous
Humus • Eg. CHO
Theories of humus formation
1. Modified lignin theory
2. Lignin theory
3. Polyphenol theory
4. Flaigs humus formation
5. Konnova concept
6. Sugar amino condensation
Modified lignin theory
Lignin theory
Polyphenol theory
Sugar amino condensation
Flaig’s theory
Lignin freed of its linkage with cellulose during decomposition
of plant residues

Formation of structural unit

(Phenyl propane)
Oxidation

Polyphenol
Enzymatic Oxidation

Quinones

Humic acid substances

 Konnova concept

• Fungi attack simple CHO and parts of protein and cellulose of plant
residues
1

• Cellulose &polyphenolssynthesized
bymyxobacteriaareoxidisedtoquinonesby poly-phenol-oxidaseenzyme
2 • Quinones react with N producehumicsubstances

• Lignin is decomposed
• Phenols released during decay also serve as source material for humus
3 synthesis
Clay – Humus Complex
 Clay minerals binds with humus through some
linkages called as Clay-Humus complex
 Being held together by cations like Ca, Fe, etc.
 Depending upon the nature of binding cation, two
types of Clay – humus complex have been
recognized.
 The colloidal complex bound by Ca ions is more
stable and is responsible for the favorable physical
condition of the soil, particularly its structure.
 The other type where Fe acts as the binding
agent creates a poor physical condition of the
soils.
Clay – Humus Complex
 There are two types of linkages take place in
formation of clay-humus formation

1. Stable linkage: Being held together by

cations like Ca, Fe, Al, Mg and OH, COOH
group

2. Unstable linkage: Humic acid on the

external surface of the clay extracted easily by
alkali
Mineralization and
immobilization
Mineralization
 Conversion of organic substances in to
inorganic forms by heterotrophic micro
organisms

 Three steps reactions namely

 Aminisation
 Ammonification
 Nitrification
Aminisation
 Hydrolytic decomposition of protein from N
compounds
 Release amines, amino acids by heterotrophic
microorganisms
Protein
Heterotrophic microorganisms

R-NH2
+
CO2
+
Energy
+
Other additional products
Ammonification
 Reduction of amines and amino acids into NH4+
by heterotrophic micro organisms

R-NH2 + H2O NH3 + R-OH + Energy

NH3 + H2O NH4+ + OH-
Heterotrophic microorganisms
Nitrification
 Microbial oxidation of ammoniacal N to NO3–
Two step process
a) Conversion of ammoniacal to nitrite nitrogen
b) Conversion of nitrite to nitrate nitrogen
 Nitrification- Two step process
Ammoniacal to Nitrite to nitrate
nitrite nitrogen nitrogen
•Nitrosomonas •Nitrobacter
•Nitrosococcus
•Nitrospira
Immobilization
 Change of inorganic form of nutrients to
organic form by soil microorganisms
 N content of added organic material is low
(<1.2%), the amount of inorganic N content in
the soil immediately decrease
 Soil microorganisms take up soil nitrogen for
their metabolisms and their multiplication
 However, the C:N ratio of the added organic
materials to the soil mostly determine the
mineralization and immobilization process
Carbon: Nitrogen (C:N Ratio)
 Relationship between organic matter and
nitrogen content of the soil

 Ratio of the weight of organic carbon to the

weight of total nitrogen in a soil

 C:N ratio controlling the available N, total organic

matter and rate of decomposition

 C:N ratio of humus: 10:1

 Most of the arable soil: 5:1 – 15:1

Relationship of C:N ratio
C:N ratio Process operates
Narrow Mineralization
(<20:1) (Release of inorganic N)
Critical Neither net mineralization nor
(20:1-30:1) net immobilization
Wider Immobilization
(>30:1) (Production of organic N)
…Thank you...