https://hdl.handle.net/11000/5252 2026-04-04T15:00:15Z 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/11000/39407 Título : Dirofilaria immitis: A New Potential Pathogen for the Endangered Iberian Lynx (Lynx pardinus) Autor : Acosta Soto, Lucrecia; León-Quinto, Trinidad; Bornay Llinares, Fernando Jorge; Simón, Miguel Ángel; Fernando, Simón; Morchón, Rodrigo Resumen : Heartworm disease caused by Dirofilaria immitis is a vector-borne disease that affects many species of both domestic and wild carnivores. We investigated the seroprevalence of D. immitis infections in one of the most endangered felids in the world, the Iberian Lynx (Lynx pardinus), which currently occupy natural restricted and protected areas in southern of Spain. Eight out of 191 animals were seropositive to the analyses of IgG antibodies anti-D. immitis and anti WSPr (Wolbachia surface protein recombinant) (4.2%). These data suggest that both free and captive animals could be at risk of infection, which could be important on his conservation. 2026-02-23T16:24:08Z https://hdl.handle.net/11000/39406 Título : Máculas hipocrómicas sin alteración de la sensibilidad en cooperante Autor : Acosta Soto, Lucrecia; Gómez Echevarría, José Ramón; Torres Muñoz, Pedro 2026-02-23T16:21:32Z https://hdl.handle.net/11000/39405 Título : Leprosy Diagnosis: An Update on the Use of Molecular Tools Autor : Acosta Soto, Lucrecia; Torres Muñoz, Pedro Resumen : Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease caused by an obligatory intracellular mycobacteria Mycobacterium leprae, which presents tropism for Schwann cells and skin macrophages. Leprosy is a public health problem and early diagnosis is essential to avoid incapacities. The disease´s clinical presentation varies from few to widespread lesions and its diagnosis continues to be a challenge due to the low sensibility of the conventional methods, based on bacillary counts of skin smears and histopathology. Molecular techniques, especially the methods to identify M. leprae DNA based on polymerase chain reaction (PCR) have emerged as a support of the conventional methods for the analysis of clinical samples in difficult to diagnose cases, such as pure neural leprosy, indeterminate and paucibacillary leprosy. The technique has also proved useful in the study of leprosy transmission and monitoring résistance to the WHO recommended Multidrug treatment. Different biological samples can be analysed and there is no consensus in the molecular diagnostic techniques respect of the most efficient nucleic acid extraction method, most appropriate methodology and genetic target for PCR. These methods provide a very valuable option for confirmation of difficult clinical cases with scarce bacilli but requires a well-equipped laboratory and the high cost makes it inaccessible to be used as a routine diagnostic tool in most endemic countries. 2026-02-23T16:17:57Z https://hdl.handle.net/11000/39404 Título : Comparison of four DNA extraction methods for the detection of Mycobacterium leprae from Ziehl-Neelsen-stained microscopic slides Autor : Ruiz-Fuentes, Jenny Laura; Díaz, Alexis; Entenza, Anayma Elena; Frión, Yahima; Suárez, Odelaisy; Torres, Pedro; de Armas, Yaxsier; Acosta Soto, Lucrecia Resumen : Objective/background: The diagnosis of leprosy has been a challenge due to the low sensibility of the conventional methods and the impossibility of culturing the causative organism. In this study, four methods for Mycobacterium leprae nucleic-acid extraction from Ziehl-Neelsen-stained slides (ZNS slides) were compared: Phenol/chloroform, Chelex 100 resin, and two commercial kits (Wizard Genomic DNA Purification Kit and QIAamp DNA Mini Kit). Methods: DNA was extracted from four groups of slides: a high-codification-slide group (bacteriological index [BI]⩾4), a low-codification-slide group (BI=1), a negative-slide group (BI=0), and a negative-control-slide group (BI=0). Quality DNA was evidenced by the amplification of specific repetitive element present in M. leprae genomic DNA (RLEP) using a nested polymerase chain reaction. Results: This is the first report comparing four different extraction methods for obtaining M. leprae DNA from ZNS slides in Cuban patients, and applied in molecular diagnosis. Good-quality DNA and positive amplification were detected in the high-codification-slide group with the four methods, while from the low-codification-slide group only the QIAGEN and phenol-chloroform methods obtained amplification of M. leprae. In the negative-slide group, only the QIAGEN method was able to obtain DNA with sufficient quality for positive amplification of the RLEP region. No amplification was observed in the negative-control-slide group by any method. Patients with ZNS negative slides can still transmit the infection, and molecular methods can help identify and treat them, interrupting the chain of transmission and preventing the onset of disabilities. Conclusion: The ZNS slides can be sent easily to reference laboratories for later molecular analysis that can be useful not only to improve the diagnosis, but also for the application of other molecular techniques. 2026-02-23T16:12:18Z