https://hdl.handle.net/11000/402 2026-04-18T12:41:48Z https://hdl.handle.net/11000/39494 Título : Monitoring of greenhouse gas emissions and compost quality during olive mill waste co-composting at industrial scale: The effect of N and C sources Autor : García-Rández, Ana; Orden, Luciano; Marks, Evan A.N.; Andreu-Rodríguez, Javier; Franco-Luesma, Samuel; Martínez-Sabater, Encarnación; Saéz-Tovar, José Antonio; Pérez-Murcia, María Dolores; Agulló, Enrique; Bustamante, María Ángeles; Cháfer, Maite; Moral, Raúl Resumen : Olive mill wastes (OMW) management by composting allows to obtain valuable fertilizing products, but also implies significant fluxes of greenhouse gases (GHG). For a proper OMW composting, high C- and N co-substrates are necessary, but little is known concerning their effect on GHG emissions in OMW-industrial scale composting. In this study, different co-composting agents (cattle manure (CM), poultry manure (PM), sheep manure (SM) and pig slurry solid fraction (PSSF) as N sources and olive leaves (OLW) and urban pruning residues (UPR) as bulking agents and C sources) were used for OMW composting at industrial scale. Physico-chemical and chemical properties in the composting samples, and GHG (CO2, CH4 and N2O) fluxes were monitored in 12 industrial-scale windrows. GHG emissions were firstly influenced by N source, with the highest accumulated global warming potential (GWP) associated with PM (512 kg CO2eq pile-1), since PM composts were associated with the greatest N2O (0.33 kg pile-1) and CH4 emissions (15.67 kg pile-1). Meanwhile, PSSF was associated with the highest CO2 emissions (1113 kg pile-1). UPR as a bulking agent facilitated 10 % greater mineralization of the biomass than OLW, however this C-source was not associated with higher GHG emissions. The results showed that while mineralization dynamics may be impacted by C sources, GHG emissions were mainly conditioned by the characteristics of nutrient-heavy feedstocks (PM and SM). Moreover, manures as nitrogen-laden co-substrates had widely differing effects on total GWP, and that of individual gases, but further research is necessary to understand the mechanisms explaining such differences. 2026-03-06T17:47:35Z https://hdl.handle.net/11000/39493 Título : Effectiveness of composts from decentralised composting scenarios to promote degraded soil restoration and R. officinalis drought resilience Autor : de Carolis, Chiara; Barra-Caracciolo, Anna; Álvarez-Alonso, Cristina; Bustamante, María Ángeles; Grenni, Paola; Rolando, Ludovica; Narciso, Alessandra; Nogués, Isabel Resumen : Soil degradation and water scarcity affect crop productivity and ecosystem resilience. Biotechnological strategies based on organic waste valorisation offer promising tools for restoring soil fertility and increasing stress tolerance. This study evaluated the effectiveness of four composts produced under different decentralized composting schemes: community (CA), decentralized urban (SO), small-scale agrocomposting from poultry manure (UP), and medium-scale agrocomposting from olive pomace and pig manure (TO), in improving a degraded soil and enhancing rosemary tolerance to drought. Soil microcosms were set up with a degraded soil and amended with different composts. Half of the microcosms were subjected to well-watered conditions and half to water-stress (75% and 20% of the soil water holding capacity, respectively). Composts promptly increased microbial abundance and dehydrogenase activity. With the TO compost plant grew better than other conditions, presumably due to its phosphorus and labile compound enrichment. Under drought stress, CA and SO composts mitigated biomass losses, demonstrating a protective role against drought-induced stress. Soil amended with pig and poultry-derived composts (TO and UP) introduced antibiotic resistance genes and, in the case of UP, the soil water extracts had significant ecotoxicological effects on both Daphnia magna and Lepidium sativum. In contrast, the CA compost - from organic fraction of municipal solid waste, yard trimmings and donkey manure - displayed the best overall performance, enhancing plant tolerance and soil microbial functionality without ecotoxicological effects. These findings highlight the biotechnological potential of community-scale composting as a circular and effective approach for degraded soil recovery and crop management under water-limited conditions. 2026-03-06T17:30:49Z https://hdl.handle.net/11000/39492 Título : Stable C and N isotope variation during anaerobic digestate composting and in the compost-amended soil-plant system Autor : Nogués, Isabel; Rumpel, Cornelia; Sébilo, Mathieu; Vaury, Véronique; Moral, Raúl; Bustamante, María Ángeles Resumen : Although the use of composts derived from anaerobic digestates as soil amendments is likely to increase in the future, there is little information concerning the fate of their C and N compounds after their incorporation into soil. This work assesses C and N concentrations and the associated changes in δ15N and δ13C during the composting processes of cattle and pig slurry anaerobic digestates. In addition, the compost effect on C and N fractions and plant uptake were studied during a six-month pot experiment with rosemary plants. The results did not show δ13C and δ15N isotopic discrimination during composting, indicating a previous stabilization of cattle manure and pig slurry during the anaerobic digestion. This fact was also confirmed by the low C losses during the composting processes (1.2-fold and 1.05-fold for the composting piles with cattle and pig slurry anaerobic digestates, respectively). After soil addition, the composts augmented N values (from 0.41 g kg􀀀 1 to around 0.56 g kg􀀀 1 in low dose and 0.68 g kg􀀀 1 in high dose compost amended soils) and δ15N soil values (increases in the range of 50%–156%), but showed only slight differences in C and δ13C values compared to unfertilised control and inorganic fertilized soils. Moreover, the rosemary leaves of the plants grown on the compost amended soils presented higher N and δ15N abundance than control and inorganic fertilized plants. We conclude that δ15N abundance of anaerobic digestate composts is useful to discern its N uptake and could thus be a useful tool to detect whether organic or mineral fertiliser types were used for agricultural production. 2026-03-06T17:16:45Z https://hdl.handle.net/11000/39491 Título : Integrated Biowaste Management by Composting at a University Campus: Process Monitoring and Quality Assessment Autor : Álvarez-Alonso, Cristina; Pérez-Murcia, María Dolores; Martínez-Sabater, Encarnación; Irigoyen, Ignacio; Sánchez-Arizmendiarrieta, Joseba; Plana, Ramón; López, Marga; Nogués, Isabel; Bustamante, María Ángeles Resumen : The sustainable management of biowaste, mainly food and pruning waste, is currently a challenge due to the increase in its production. The CaMPuSTAJE program, which has been implemented on the campus of the Public University of Navarre (UPNA) since 2019, is an excellent example of how the institution is addressing its strategic interests in sustainable waste management. The principal aim of this program is to manage the biowastes generated by the campus canteens through a simple community composting facility, involving UPNA students and graduates. This program aims to promote experiential learning and applied research in sustainability and circular economy, managing their own waste in a circular and local way. Thus, four composting sets of the CaMPuSTAJE program were evaluated by monitoring the process and the main chemical properties of the composting samples. Also, final composts were fully characterized to ensure the process reproducibility and efficiency and the absence of any hazard in the end-products. The final composts showed a significant agronomic quality, had low content of potentially toxic elements, and were free from phytotoxicity, thus being able to be reintroduced as an organic amendment at the university campus itself. 2026-03-06T17:05:12Z https://hdl.handle.net/11000/39490 Título : Impact of composts from decentralized composting models on R. officinalis physiology and nutrient contents under abiotic stress Autor : Álvarez-Alonso, Cristina; Nogués, Isabel; Pallozzi, Emanuele; Stefanoni, Walter; Pietrini, Fabrizio; Sosa, Lucia; Manrique-Córdoba, Natalia; Pérez-Murcia, María Dolores; Moral, Raúl; Bustamante, María Ángeles Resumen : The loss of organic matter in soils, in conjunction with water scarcity and salinization constitutes a grave problem in the Mediterranean region. The utilization of composts derived from novel decentralized models, such as agrocomposting, community composting and decentralized urban composting, is hypothesized as an effective strategy with the potential to enhance the physical, chemical and biological characteristics of the soil. The application of compost has been demonstrated to enhance the resilience of plants to abiotic stresses, including drought and salinity. In this context, eight decentralized model composts were employed as organic amendments in a degraded soil to assess whether they could mitigate the stress experienced by the Mediterranean shrub R. officinalis under conditions of drought or salinity for one month. Therefore, measurements of gas exchange, emission of volatile organic compounds and reflectance during stress were performed in order to determine the degree of adaptation of the plants. Composts from community composting were found to be more effective in alleviating the effects of abiotic stress, while the ineffectiveness of composts from decentralized urban composting depended on their characteristics (e.g. humic substances and electrical conductivity). An initial increase in monoterpene emission rates was observed, which decreased at the end of the experimental time in a positive correlation with leaf RWC. Stress also led to a reduction in photosynthesis (A) and stomatal conductance (gs). Reflectance was more affected under drought conditions and by the application of compost with a high electrical conductivity, which likely hindered chlorophyll synthesis. Thus, the present results have enabled the selection of appropriate composts for utilization in agriculture under stress conditions considering plant biomass values and compost characteristics (EC, humic substances content, and the K/Na ratio). 2026-03-06T16:55:38Z https://hdl.handle.net/11000/39487 Título : Agronomic Use of Urban Composts from Decentralized Composting Scenarios: Implications for a Horticultural Crop and Soil Properties Autor : Álvarez-Alonso, Cristina; Pérez-Murcia, María Dolores; Manrique, Natalia; Andreu-Rodríguez, F. Javier; Mira-Urios, Miguel Ángel; Irigoyen, Ignacio; López, Marga; Orden, Luciano; Moral, Raúl; Nogués, Isabel; Bustamante, María Ángeles Resumen : Circular economy in the context of municipal organic waste management has boosted the emergence of novel composting scenarios, such as community composting and decentralized urban composting in small installations, which favors localized management and valorization of organic waste streams. However, there is little information about the agronomic use of the composts obtained from these new organic waste management systems as an alternative for inorganic fertilization in crop production. In this work, municipal solid waste-derived composts from two decentralized composting scenarios (CM1 and CM2 from community composting, and CM3 and CM4 from decentralized urban small-scale composting plants) were applied and mixed in the top layer of a calcareous clayey-loam soil to assess their effects as alternative substitutes for conventional soil inorganic fertilization (IN) during two successive cultivation cycles of lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) grown in pots with the amended soils. These treatments were also compared with an organic waste (goat–rabbit manure, E) and a control treatment without fertilization (B). The effects of the fertilizing treatments on the crop yield and quality, as well as on the properties of the soil considered were studied. In general, the application of the different composts did not produce negative effects on lettuce yield and quality. The compost-derived fertilization showed similar lettuce yields compared to the inorganic and manure-derived fertilizations (IN and E, respectively), and higher yields than the soil without amendment (B), with increases in the initial yield values of B, for the first cycle from 34.2% for CM1 to 53.8% for CM3, and from 20.3% for CM3 to 92.4% for CM1 in the second cycle. Furthermore, the organically amended soils showed a better crop development, obtaining higher values than the control treatment in the parameters studied. In addition, the incorporation of the organic treatments improved the soil characteristics, leading to 1.3 and 1.2 times higher organic matter contents in the soils with CM2 and in the soils with CM1, CM3, and E, respectively, compared to the control soil without fertilizing treatment (B), and 2.0 and 1.8 times greater organic matter contents, respectively, compared to soil with inorganic fertilization (IN). Therefore, the use of municipal solid waste-derived composts from these new organic waste management systems, such as the decentralized composting scenarios studied (community composting and urban decentralized small-scale composting plants), is presented, not only as a sustainable valorization method, but also as an alternative for the use of inorganic fertilizers in lettuce cultivation, while enhancing soil properties, contributing to increasing the circularity of agriculture. 2026-03-05T19:13:21Z https://hdl.handle.net/11000/39445 Título : Effectiveness of DMU e-Parasitology in teaching animal parasitology. Integrating knowledge in Analytical Chemistry. Autor : Peña-Fernández, Antonio; Acosta Soto, Lucrecia; MIRÓ, GUADALUPE; Montoya, Ana; Peña Fernández, María Ángeles; Morchón, Rodrigo Resumen : The devastating effects of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic 2019 (COVID-19) globally has highlighted the importance of the human/animal interface and the environment shared as a potential source of diseases. Emerging evidence has shown that significant zoonotic parasitic diseases could be appropriately controlled by implementing a One Health approach, with input from an interdisciplinary team including engineering professionals. De Montfort University (DMU, UK) is leading the development of virtual resources for the teaching and learning of animal parasitology, which will be available in the e-Parasitology® website (http:// parasitology.dmu.ac.uk/index.htm). We have carried out a teaching intervention to introduce this novel resource in the Agricultural Engineering degree at University of Salamanca (Spain) in 2020/21. 76.7% of students (n=30) indicated that engaging with the different formative quizzes and exercises available in e-Parasitology® helped them with understanding the parasitology content of their Animal Health third year module. Our intervention also shown that the website could be used to tackle the downward trend in the teaching of veterinary parasitology, by facilitating the teaching of important zoonoses in programmes with very little time available for the appropriate study of these diseases. 2026-02-27T16:19:22Z https://hdl.handle.net/11000/39444 Título : Diagnóstico molecular de Mycobacterium leprae. Autor : Acosta Soto, Lucrecia 2026-02-27T16:17:20Z https://hdl.handle.net/11000/39443 Título : Use of DMU e-Parasitology in a West African university. Autor : Peña-Fernández, Antonio; Guetiya Wadoum, Raoul Emeric; Izquierdo, Fernando; Anjum, Umar; Acosta Soto, Lucrecia; Fenoy, Soledad; Peña Fernández, María Ángeles; Berghs, Maria; Koroma, Sylvester Resumen : Following the devastating effects of the 2013-16 ebola outbreak on the Sierra Leonean public health system, De Montfort University (DMU, UK) is leading a project to build the teaching and research capabilities of medical parasitology at the University of Makeni (UniMak, Sierra Leone). A DMU researcher visited UniMak for two weeks in April 2019 and provided a voluntary short training course (theoretical and practical) in basic parasitology, using our novel web-based resource DMU e-Parasitology® (http://parasitology.dmu.ac.uk/index.htm), which is little taught in their programmes. Following this training, UniMak’s academics offered a voluntary practical to study the presence of coccidian human parasites in farm pig stool samples to final year students enrolled in the degree of ‘Public Health: Medical Laboratory Sciences’. Nine of the eighteen students that attended the practical provided feedback: 88.9% (22.2% agreed, 66.7% strongly agreed) indicated that the videos displaying how to perform the Kinyoun stain facilitated their learning; and only 11.1% indicated that the web-based resources did not help them to perform the Kinyoun stain. Our results would indicate that the DMU e-Parasitology® is an appropriate resource to introduce and facilitate the teaching of emerging and opportunistic parasitic diseases in a low-income university. 2026-02-27T15:58:34Z https://hdl.handle.net/11000/39442 Título : Clinical training to reduce infections of sexually transmitted parasites. Autor : Peña-Fernández, Antonio; Peña Fernández, M. Ángeles; Evans Dennis, Mark; Acosta Soto, Lucrecia Resumen : Infections due to intestinal protozoan parasites are increasing in Europe in men who have sex with men (MSM). However, sexual clinics do not routinely monitor for these sexually transmitted parasites (STPs). Our international team, led by De Montfort University (DMU, UK), has launched a complete open-access website package, named e-Parasitology© (http://parasitology.dmu.ac.uk/index. htm), which includes a battery of resources and tools (virtual microscope and laboratory) for the teaching and learning of the STPs of Entamoeba histolytica, Giardia intestinalis, Cryptosporidium spp. These virtual resources were tested with third year BSc Biomedical Science students at DMU in 2019/20 and 20/21, to evaluate their effectiveness, specifically on the acquisition of diagnostic skills. Students completed a focused 2-hour workshop using a clinical case study of E. histolytica affecting an MSM patient, and checked different virtual clinical slides available that presented structures of this parasite using the resources available in e-Parasitology. Thirty-seven and ten students voluntarily provided feedback at the end of the workshop, respectively. Most responders highlighted that e-Parasitology © helped them to learn the clinical and pathological characteristics of Entamoeba spp. (90% in 20/21), as well as how to diagnose infections due to E. histolytica (77.8%; 11.1% disagreed; 20/21 cohort). Our preliminary results suggest that e-Parasitology© facilitates the learning of laborious laboratory techniques for the diagnosis of E. histolytica and opportunistic parasites. 2026-02-27T15:56:16Z