Structure of the new university. begins to emerge - Adm.monash.edu ...

Eve leads the way for other Koories .fIffif!I:... m n,_• Dr Eve Fesl faces the media after receiving her doctorate at a graduation ceremony atRobert Blackwood Hall earlier this year. Picture: RICHARD CROMPTON.SJudy of brown coal shows growing uses VICTORIA is not called the GardenState for nothing. It sits on the remainsone of the world's largest compostheaps - the brown coal deposits of theLatrobe Valley.In fact, brown coal has gone a stage fur·ther than compost, but it is a good sourceof humic materials, which are formednaturally during composting. says Dr TonyPatti, a chemist from the School of AppliedScience at the Gippsland Institute of AdvancedEducation.•'There are many reports of weird andwonderful effects of humic substances onplants and micro-organisms, particularlyas a growth stimulant. Some quile significantclaims have been made which deserveto be investigated."Because of this. for the past five years.in collaboration with the Coal Corporationof Victoria, Patti has been looking at compositionof brown cOdl dllJ it~ po!>sible applicationsin agriculture.Humic substances are the naturalbreakdown products remaining aftermicro-organisms have worked over plantmaterial in soils, sludges and peats.Using the expertise of the Cal Corporation'slaboratories at the Gippsland Institute,Patti has been studying the differencesbetween humic extracts obtainedusing different chemical treatments.Now that he has a feel for the chemicalcomposition of the humic extracts fromVictorian brown coal. Pani is beginning aseries of collaborative projects aimed atdetennining their biological activity.Most of the projects are appl ied innature. For instance, he is collaboratingwith horticulturalists. Debco Pty Ltd in astudy of the use of brown coal as a meansof making trace elements available toplants.A second line of research is to investigatereports that humics enhance theefficiency of conventional fertilisers. It hasbeen claimed that humic acids in combinationwith conventional nitrogen fertiliserscan increase plant yields by up to 30 percent over the fertilisers alone.There are sound environmental andeconomic reasons for looking at theseclaims. If they turn out to be true. the useof humic extracts could lead to a drop inthe amount of fertiliser needed per hectare.This would mean less runoff intofreshwater systems, reducing what isbecoming a significant environmentalproblem.A further claim in the literature is thathumic substances can stimulate the growthof micro-organisms. If true, this could 9'5!have an important impact on the fermenta- ~tion and biotechology industries, which de- ~pend on growing micro-organisms. "~Patti is working with Dr John May and ~Khoi Yu-Trong of the Monash II.Microbiology Department on a series of iexperiments to test the effect of humics on