Adele Muscolo

Breast cancer remains one of the most frequently diagnosed malignancies and a leading cause of cancer-related mortality among women worldwide. The growing interest in natural bioactive compounds has highlighted plant-derived phytochemicals as promising agents for cancer prevention and adjunctive therapy due to their pleiotropic biological activities and relatively low toxicity. In parallel, increasing attention has been directed toward agro-industrial by-products generated during food processing, which represent abundant and sustainable sources of valuable phytochemicals. This review provides a comprehensive overview of recent advances in the identification, extraction, and biological evaluation of phytochemicals derived from plants and agro-industrial residues, using pomegranate (Punica granatum) peels, onion (Allium cepa) skins, and citrus by-products as representative examples of phytochemical-rich agro-industrial residues. These by-products are rich in polyphenols, flavonoids, and other secondary metabolites—including punicalagins, ellagic acid, quercetin, hesperidin, and naringin—that have demonstrated significant antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anticancer properties. Recent in vitro and in vivo studies indicate that these compounds can modulate key molecular pathways involved in breast cancer initiation and progression, such as oxidative stress regulation, apoptosis induction, inhibition of cell proliferation, and suppression of signaling cascades including PI3K/Akt, NF-κB, and MAPK pathways. Furthermore, the valorization of agro-industrial waste offers a sustainable strategy to recover high-value bioactive compounds while reducing environmental impact. Overall, phytochemicals obtained from plant materials and food processing by-products represent promising functional agents for breast cancer prevention and therapy, although further studies are required to improve bioavailability, elucidate mechanisms of action, and validate their clinical potential.

Soil degradation and organic matter depletion threaten the sustainability of Mediterranean agroecosystems, highlighting the need for effective and sustainable soil restoration strategies. This study evaluated the short-term effects of composts and vermicomposts derived from chestnut sawdust and food waste on soil functionality and broccoli quality under field conditions using a multi-indicator assessment framework. Six fertilization treatments, including composts, vermicomposts, horse manure, mineral NPK fertilization, and an unfertilized control, were tested in broccoli-cultivated plots. Organic amendments significantly improved soil chemical, biochemical, and biological properties compared with mineral fertilization and the unfertilized control. Vermicompost 10/90 (10% sawdust:90% wet waste) produced the strongest effects, increasing soil organic carbon and organic matter by about 85%, cation exchange capacity by 45%, and dehydrogenase activity by 83% compared with the unfertilized control. Compost and vermicompost treatments also enhanced microbial biomass carbon, enzymatic activities, and QBS-ar values, indicating improved soil biological quality and microarthropod diversity. Broccoli quality was significantly influenced by fertilization regime. Vermicompost 10/90 increased vitamin C by 154%, vitamin E by 54%, total proteins by 18%, and total carbohydrates by 17% compared with the unfertilized control. Organic amendments also enhanced total phenolics, flavonoids, and antioxidant activity relative to NPK and control treatments. Principal component and correlation analyses revealed strong positive relationships among organic matter accumulation, microbial activity, enzymatic processes, soil biodiversity, and crop nutritional quality. Overall, the integrated multi-indicator approach demonstrated that waste-derived organic amendments improve soil functionality and crop quality simultaneously, supporting their use as sustainable tools for circular and resilient Mediterranean agricultural systems.

High-severity wildfire caused a 78% decline in Staphylinidae abundance and a 32% loss of richness one year after fire in an old-growth Pinus nigra ssp. laricio forest in Aspromonte National Park, Italy. Generalized linear mixed models confirmed a significant negative effect of dNBR on abundance (β = -0.97, p = 0.012). NMDS and PERMANOVA showed significant community divergence among burned, transition, and unburned sites (R² = 0.073, p = 0.001). Soil analyses revealed a 57% reduction in soil organic matter and marked changes in enzymatic activity, indicating oxidative stress and litter-layer disruption. We propose a ”biotic floor” threshold at dNBR 0.25–0.50, beyond which Staphylinidae assemblages become functionally homogenized. Maintaining prescribed burns below dNBR 0.25 and conserving unburned litter refugia are essential to preserve specialist taxa and recolonization sources. Integrating remote-sensing burn metrics with edaphic bioindicators provides a scalable framework for detecting early soil biodiversity collapse and guiding adaptive fire management in Mediterranean mountain forests.

Agricultural soils play a dual role in the climate system, acting both as carbon sinks and natural sources of greenhouse gas emissions, which may be intensified under unsustainable management. However, the comparative effectiveness of different soil management strategies, particularly organic amendments derived from agro-industrial residues, remains insufficiently clarified. This review aims to critically synthesize current scientific evidence on soil stewardship practices for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and enhancing soil carbon sequestration. The analysis is based on a structured review of peer-reviewed literature published over the last decade, including field experiments, long-term trials, and LCA studies. Comparative insights are provided across conventional mineral fertilization, organic amendments, and circular fertilization approaches based on agro-industrial by-products. The results indicate that organic amendments such as compost, digestate, and vermicompost generally increase soil organic carbon stocks (up to +40% in long-term systems) and can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and carbon footprint compared with mineral fertilization, although responses vary depending on soil, climate, and management conditions. The review evaluates the effects of different management practices on soil organic carbon dynamics, greenhouse gas fluxes, nutrient use efficiency, and soil biological functioning. Special emphasis is placed on the role of waste-derived fertilizers—such as composts, digestates, and vermicompost—in promoting soil carbon stabilization while reducing the environmental burden associated with synthetic inputs. Evidence consistently indicates that soil stewardship strategies grounded in circular economy principles can lower net carbon footprints, improve soil resilience, and mitigate trade-offs between productivity and climate mitigation. By framing soil management within the context of global warming mitigation, this review highlights the multifunctional role of soils as climate regulators and underscores the potential of agro-industrial waste valorization as a scalable pathway toward climate-smart and low-emission agricultural systems.

The growing global food demand has increased the use of chemical fertilizers, causing environmental issues. Previous studies have often assessed waste-derived fertilizers separately in terms of soil improvement or environmental impact, with limited integration of these aspects across different recycling processes. This study evaluated the effects on soil quality and the environmental impact of fertilizers produced with different percentages of food wastes and different recycling processes. The fertilizers investigated include vermicompost (VC, 70% wood sawdust + 30% food wastes), Compost 1 (C1, 50% wood sawdust + 50% food wastes), Compost 2 (C2, 10% straw + 90% food wastes), and sulfur–bentonite (SBC, 90% SB + 10% food wastes). Six months post-fertilization, vermicompost significantly improved soil properties, increasing soil organic matter from 3.01% to 4.70% (+56%) and total nitrogen from 0.15% to 0.22%, along with an increase in microbial biomass compared to the unfertilized control. Compost treatments also improved soil quality, although to a lesser extent. A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was performed across the entire life cycle of the fertilizers. Vermicompost showed the lowest environmental impact, with a global warming potential of 45 kg CO₂ eq ton⁻¹, compared to 93 and 100 kg CO₂ eq ton⁻¹ for C1 and C2, respectively, and 167 kg CO₂ eq ton⁻¹ for SBC. The results evidenced that vermicompost improved soil quality by increasing soil organic matter, total nitrogen, microbial biomass, and biological activity and that it emitted less CO₂ eq, SO₂ eq and PO₄³⁻ during the vermicomposting process, emphasizing its environmental sustainability. The two composts improved soil quality with a moderate environmental impact. SBC positively affected soil properties but with a strong negative environmental impact. From the benefit–cost perspective, the sustainable fertilizer ranking was VC > C2 > C1 > SBC. These findings underscore that these waste management processes represent a possible transition to sustainable fertilizers derived from waste materials to mitigate the environmental degradation associated with the production and use of conventional fertilizers. By adopting these practices, the agricultural sector can boost productivity while maintaining environmental sustainability standards.

Soils represent a critical leverage point for mitigating global warming, acting simultane-ously as major carbon reservoirs and active sources of greenhouse gas emissions under unsustainable management. This review synthesizes current evidence on soil steward-ship practices aimed at reducing carbon emissions and enhancing carbon sequestration. Comparative insights are provided across conventional mineral fertilization, organic amendments, and circular fertilization approaches based on agro-industrial by-products. The review integrates findings from field experiments, long-term trials, and life cycle as-sessment studies to evaluate the effects of different management practices on soil organic carbon dynamics, greenhouse gas fluxes, nutrient use efficiency, and soil biological func-tioning. Special emphasis is placed on the role of waste-derived fertilizers—such as com-posts, digestates, vermicompost—in promoting soil carbon stabilization while reducing the environmental burden associated with synthetic inputs. Evidence consistently indi-cates that soil stewardship strategies grounded in circular economy principles can lower net carbon footprints, improve soil resilience, and mitigate trade-offs between productivity and climate mitigation. By framing soil management within the context of global warm-ing mitigation, this review highlights the multifunctional role of soils as climate regula-tors and underscores the potential of agro-industrial waste valorization as a scalable pathway toward climate-smart and low-emission agricultural systems.

The growing demand for sustainable fertilization practices has stimulated interest in circular fertilizers derived from agro-industrial and agricultural wastes. This study assessed the agronomic and biological performance of several waste-based fertilizers—produced through composting, vermicomposting, and sulfur–bentonite enrichment—on chemical and microbiological soil properties. Composts and vermicomposts were prepared from olive pomace, citrus residues, wood sawdust, and straw, with or without elemental sulfur obtained from petroleum gas desulfurization. Field trials were conducted on a sandy loam soil (Motta San Giovanni, Italy) to compare the different formulations. After six months, soils amended with waste-based fertilizers exhibited significant improvements in key parameters relative to both the control and mineral fertilizer treatment. Vermicompost applications (SV1, SV2) increased total organic carbon by 20–30% (up to 2.1%), total nitrogen by 35–45% (0.22–0.23%), microbial biomass carbon by ~25% (≈1090 µg C g⁻¹), and dehydrogenase and fluorescein diacetate activities by 10–20% compared with compost or sulfur–bentonite treatments. Compost amendments (SC1, SC2) raised soil pH (8.2–8.3) and organic matter content (≈3.3–3.6%), while sulfur–bentonite formulations lowered pH to 7.1–7.3 and increased water-soluble phenols (up to 40 µg TAE g⁻¹ d.s). The highest cation exchange capacity (22–23 cmol (+) kg⁻¹) was observed in vermicompost-amended soils. Microbial community analysis revealed greater fungal abundance under sulfur–bentonite treatments, whereas bacteria and actinomycetes predominated in compost-amended soils. Principal Component Analysis (explaining 76% of variance) identified two main functional pathways: vermicompost treatments clustered with indicators of high biological activity (TOC, TN, MBC, and enzyme activities), while compost and sulfur–bentonite treatments were associated with pH, phenolic compounds, and fungal biomass, reflecting slower but more stable organic matter turnover. Overall, vermicompost-based fertilizers proved most effective in enhancing short-term nutrient availability and microbial activation, whereas composts favored long-term soil carbon accumulation and stability. These results highlight the potential of circular fertilizers derived from agro-industrial wastes to restore soil health, close nutrient cycles, and reduce dependence on synthetic fertilizers—thereby advancing sustainable and circular agriculture.

The transition to sustainable fertilization strategies is essential to reconcile agricultural productivity with soil health and climate change mitigation. This study assessed the agronomic and environmental performance of four waste-derived fertilizers - compost (C), vermicompost (V), olive-based digestate (D), and sulfur bentonite with olive pomace (SBO) - through integrated soil analyses and life cycle assessment (LCA). The results showed that compost and vermicompost exhibited the highest degree of organic matter humification, improving total organic carbon, cation exchange capacity, soil microbial biomass carbon, and enzymatic activity. Vermicompost provided the greatest increase in humification rate and bacterial biomass, while compost maximized fungal-to-bacterial ratios, soil enzymatic activities, and stable carbon pools. Digestate enhanced soil organic carbon and fungal biomass, although with lower humification indices and higher water-soluble phenols. SBO strongly acidified the soil and shifted microbial communities toward fungal dominance but contributed the highest greenhouse gas emissions due to sulfur processing. LCA confirmed vermicompost as the most climate-friendly amendment (25 kg CO2 eq ton-1), followed by compost (43), digestate (110), and SBO (167). These findings indicate that waste-derived organic fertilizers can simultaneously improve soil quality, promote carbon sequestration, and reduce emissions compared with synthetic inputs, with vermicompost and compost offering the greatest agronomic and environmental benefits.

Tuna is the world’s most commercially valuable fish. More than 60% of tuna fish caught worldwide is used by the global canned tuna industry. The latter industry had revenue exceeding $20 billion in 2024. Before being packaged by canned tuna industrial companies, tuna’s meat is cooked. The broths that derive from the tuna cooking process are fed to a wastewater treatment plant together with scraps that derive from the cutting phase of the raw tuna, the blood and the so-called sawdust composed of small fragments from the cutting are sent to the water treatment plant along with the aqueous exudate released by the tuna in the conditioning phase after cooking. Dubbed herein “TunaMud”, we show in this study that the sewage sludge residue resulting from wastewater treatment at canned tuna industry factories is a multi-purpose fertilizer. Tested on arboreal (olive and pomegranate), herbaceous (pepper and lettuce), and horticultural (onion) plants, TunaMud improved the growth parameters of all plants grown, as well as the quality of fertilized soil. A biological resource so far disposed of as biowaste at substantial economic cost is thereby turned into a valued fertilizer. Along with recent outcomes concerning tuna industrial processing waste upgrade into valuable bioproducts via the LimoFish process, these findings close the material cycle through technically and economically viable circular economy processes for all by-products of the global canned tuna industry, including the mud-like residue from the wastewater treatment plant. While the use of food waste as fertilizer is not new, the innovation of this work lies in valorizing a previously unstudied industrial residue: the wastewater-treatment sludge generated specifically by the tuna-canning process. The composition of TunaMud, arising from a unique combination of cooking broths, blood, cutting scraps, and conditioning exudates, has no equivalent in the existing literature on organic fertilizers. The study further introduces a genuinely interdisciplinary approach that integrates green chemistry, wastewater engineering, agronomy, circular-economy analysis, and public-health considerations. Besides providing farming companies with a multi-purpose organic fertilizer free of antibiotics, these findings provide the canned tuna industry with the opportunity to save substantial waste disposal costs that in Europe approach €300/t. Benefits of TunaMud employment may be significant also for public health and the environment. Manure contaminated with antibiotics and resistant bacteria quickly increases the amount of antibiotics residues and antibiotic resistance genes, reducing the microbial diversity of the soil and driving widespread antimicrobial resistance. The approach to use fish biowaste as a source of organic fertilizers produced using innovative green chemistry (AnchoisFert) and green chemical engineering (TunaMud) technologies, provides an example of the required integration of disciplines working with industry to foster human health along with that of animals, plants and wider ecosystems. The use of locally produced waste marine biomass, naturally free from antibiotics, significantly reduces dependence on fertilizer markets, while lowering and stabilizing agricultural production costs. By transforming an abundant, renewable, and underutilized resource into a valuable agricultural input, this approach strengthens local economies and supports environmental sustainability. For public health systems, reducing the spread of antibiotics and antibiotic-resistance genes into agricultural soils directly addresses one of the key global priorities.