HUMUS - AGROFERTILIZER INDUSTRY

Try planting seeds in pure clay retrieved from the bottom of a metre deep hole. There is no plant growth here, no matter how much N-P-K is applied. It is not possible to grow a crop in soil in the complete absence of organic carbon (humus).
In the production of a fertile soil, organic substances play a direct part as they are the sources of plant nutrients which are liberated in available forms during mineralisation.
The rise in popularity and use of mineral fertilisers enabled growers to directly supply plant nutrients to the soil, and rapid growth in agricultural productivity occurred. As a consequence, the importance of soil organic matter was somewhat neglected.
Humus is a structureless colloidal material resulting from the decomposition (humification) of any type of dead organic matter (mostly plant residues and animal remains).
It is a complex mixture including proteins, lignin (plant cell walls); fats, carbohydrates, and organic acids. These acids, humic acids and chelates, provide a storehouse of essential plant nutrients.
It helps make some nutrients more soluble and available to plants. It provides a high water absorption and holding capacity and contributes to good soil structure. It buffers the soil and protects plants from drastic changes in pH.
Humus and soil life work together for plants benefits.
Organic carbon is created from the breakdown of organic matter (usually in the form of crop residues) by bacteria and fungi. The conversion and availability of all mineral elements are related to, and regulated by this system of decay in the soil.
This is the environment necessary for the decomposing micro-organisms to flourish. Crop residues are converted into carbon dioxide, carbonic acid and numerous mild organic acids. These acids, stored in the humus complex, are necessary to convert, chelate, and release soil minerals.
Everyone knows that plant needs light, heat and moisture, as well as good fertile soil with the whole set of macro and micro elements to flourish.
But the real problem is that assimilation of those elements is impossible without some special organic substance, which is called "humus".
The main compound of humus are humic acids; which have originated during the decomposition of plant and animal residues by microorganisms, under aerobic and anaerobic conditions, usually in soils, composts, peat bogs, and water basins.