Humic acids are extremely important as a medium for transporting nutrients from the soil to the plant because they can hold onto ionized nutrients, preventing them from leaching away. Humic acids are also attracted to the depletion zone of the plant root. When they arrive at the roots, they bring along water and nutrients the plant needs.
The depletion zone is the area close to the root of a plant from which the root draws (depletes) nutrients. This zone can become particularly depleted if there is a lack of either humic acid or mycorrhizal fungus. When plants are mycorrhizal, the depletion zone is of less importance. Mycorrhizae have hyphae micro-tubes that can extend much further into the soil than the host plant can reach. They can gather mineral nutrition for the benefit of the host plant from outside the depletion zone. Humus is even more critical for plant nutrient availability and uptake if there aren’t healthy mycorrhizal relationships in the soil.
Positive ions are more easily absorbed by a plant’s root because the root has a negative charge. In other words, the positive (cation) is attracted to negative (the living root). Humic acids hold cations (positive ions) in a way they can be more easily absorbed by a plant’s root, improving micronutrient transfer to the plant’s circulation system. This works because humic acids (ulmic, humic, and fulvic) pick up positive ions and are then attracted to the root depletion zone and to the hyphae micro-tubes of mycorrhizae.
Since the root’s negative charge is greater than humic acid biomolecules’ negative charge, scientists theorize that the micronutrients are taken up by the plant’s root and are absorbed by the plant’s circulation system. Some of the micronutrients are released from the humic acid molecule as they enter the root membrane, but we are now realizing that the plant will also uptake some of the lighter molecular-weight humic acids as well. In essence, the humic substances are chelating such cations as magnesium (Mg2+), calcium (Ca2+), and iron (Fe2+). Through chelation, humic substances increase the availability of these cations to plants.
by ecofarm daily
lin-chemical.com 