Antibacterial and antioxidant properties of humic substances from composted agricultural biomasses

Abstract Background Bioactive components isolated from composted agricultural biomasses have been receiving progressive attention, because they may improve the antibiotic susceptibility of drug resistant bacterial strains. Here, three different humic substances (HS) were artichoke (HS-CYN) and pepper (HS-PEP) wastes, coffee grounds (HS-COF), characterized by infrared spectrometry, NMR spectroscopy, thermochemolysis–GC/MS, high-performance size-exclusion chromatography. The antibacterial activity HS was evaluated against some pathogenic strains, while their bioactivity determined a germination assay on basil ( Red – Violet variety) seeds. Results HS-CYN HS-PEP exhibited largest antioxidant most significant antimicrobial capacity gram-positive such as Staphylococcus aureus Enterococcus faecalis . same increase both root epicotyls in seed experiments. related not only to specific molecular composition but also conformational stability suprastructures. Specifically, greatest bioactive properties abundance hydrophobic aromatic phenolic more rigid arrangement, that, turn, appeared be small fragmentation degree lignin structures. Conclusions Our results showed that extraction green composts sustainable eco-compatible way valorise byproducts. indeed exploited substrates produce novel materials plant productivity for medical applications. Graphical