What is humus?
Humus contains everything that has lived so far in the soil or is still living there. This means all living organisms such as plant root, plant residues, and soil living or non-living organic mass such as bacteria, fungi, algae and soil organisms.
Permanent humus will be conserved for thousands of years
Humus is a term applied referring to all organic matter of soil and it is also called Soil Organic Matter (SOM), which will be converted to permanent humus by the activity of soil microbes. Permanent humus will be conserved for thousands of years and is decisive for determining the soil structure and fertility.
Humus effectively determines soil structure
From the structural aspect, humus is considered as a natural warehouse of water and nutrients and provides a suitable habitat for soil organisms that is indispensable for health and growth of plants. Humus softens the hard soils and makes soft soils hard. In this regard, clay soils containing humus contents have a better structure for agriculture, and in contrary to this, sandy soils get a better condition on water and nutrients holding capacity.
Humus stores nutrients essential for plant growth
Humus in soil increases soil nutrient holding capacity. Humus can better bind nutrients in the top layers of soil with triple higher cation exchange capacity than soils without humus. As estimated, 1% humus in 30 cm topsoil equals the storage of 2500 kg Nitrogen per hectare. Humus makes the production of agricultural products safer and cheaper, in addition to increasing the health and productivity of plants. It helps that all affairs related to plant conservation and concerning costs considerably decrease.