Agriculture has always resulted from available technology and the necessity to secure humanity’s food needs. In recent decades, a third factor has been recognized in this system—the environment. For centuries, a side effect of agricultural development has been environmental pollution and the uncontrolled use of natural resources. New legislation is being introduced worldwide to protect the environment and move towards a sustainable economy. An example is the EU Green Deal, aimed at making Europe the world’s first climate-neutral continent. An integral part of this strategy is sustainable agriculture, based on a balanced use of resources, recycling, ecological practices and the latest technological solutions. It is also important to change the perception of soil and recognize its pivotal role in agricultural development and ensuring food security. Soil is a non-renewable natural resource; without healthy soil, no sustainable agriculture can exist. For this reason, this paper summarizes recent trends in the development of sustainable agriculture from the perspective of soil management and conservation. It includes a summary of nanomaterial use, organic farming, soil health, precision agriculture, and threats and challenges to soil sustainability posed by climate change. We conclude that despite the rapid and extensive development of agricultural solutions striving to protect the environment and increase soil productivity, measures are still lacking that will allow agriculture to maintain adequate efficiency while fully protecting the environment, especially in developing countries.

Given the growth in the number of biogas power plants and the increase in the generation of waste from energy production, it is relevant to study the sustainable nature of this waste. Digestate is a product of the anaerobic digestion process, and is a valuable bio-fertilizer containing organic matter and nutrients necessary for agricultural plants’ growth. The study showed that different rates of liquid and solid phases of anaerobic digestate influenced the contents of carbon and nitrogen in genetically young soil in alluvial deposits—Fluvisol. The application of solid digestate (SD) considerably increased soil organic carbon content (SOC) in the 0–10 cm soil layer; however, SOC did not reach the 20–30 cm layer. Liquid digestate (LD) significantly increased SOC in the deeper layers. The levels of mineral nitrogen (N_min) and water extractable organic carbon (WEOC) increased in the 0–10 cm soil layer soon after fertilization with LD and SD. The mobile components of the soil (N_min and WEOC) were characterized by high variability during the growing season. Within the 2-month period, their concentrations decreased drastically and were close to those of unfertilized soil. The research indicates that anaerobic digestate had a greater effect on mobile forms of carbon and nitrogen in the soil than on their total amounts.

Anthropogenic polymers have become an increasingly important class of emerging contaminants in terrestrial ecosystems. While extensive research has focused on microplastics in aquatic environments, their interactions with soil systems and particularly with soil organic matter (SOM) remain insufficiently understood. Soil represents a major environmental sink for polymer residues originating from agricultural practices, urban activities, and atmospheric deposition. Accordingly, associations between polymers and SOM, including humic substances, may significantly influence the retention, mobility, and transformation of carbon in soil systems. This review synthesizes current knowledge on the influence of synthetic polymers on soil organic matter dynamics. A bibliometric and qualitative literature analysis based on publications indexed in Web of Science and Scopus from 1979 to 2025 was conducted to identify major research trends and knowledge gaps. The results indicate that polymer particles can alter soil structure, microbial activity, and sorption processes, thereby affecting the stability and cycling of soil organic carbon. Interactions between polymer surfaces and humic substances may modify aggregation processes and influence the persistence and mobility of both polymers and organic carbon compounds. Despite the rapid growth of research on microplastics, studies addressing polymer–SOM interactions remain limited and methodologically heterogeneous. Greater integration between polymer research, soil science, and land use studies is necessary to better understand the implications of polymer contamination for soil quality and carbon cycling. The findings highlight the need for standardized analytical approaches and interdisciplinary research frameworks to assess the long-term effects of polymers in soil ecosystems.

Ammonium (NH₄⁺) content is one of the most important parameters in manure assessment. The accurate and rapid determination of this inorganic form of nitrogen is therefore important not only in agronomy, when calculating fertilizer application rates, but also in scientific studies, for example, in the study of greenhouse gas emissions from stored manure. There is not enough research to assess which analytical method is the most appropriate for the determination of (NH₄⁺) in manure with additives such as perlite, vermiculite, or peat. We compared three analytical methods for NH₄⁺ determination: distillation, ionometry, and spectrophotometry. The results showed that the distillation method had the lowest average coefficient of variation (Cv) between the two laboratory replicates, with a Cv = 0.77%, while the ionometry and spectrophotometry methods had average Cv values of 1.83% and 3.97%, respectively. A lower coefficient of variation indicates that the analytical method is less sensitive to various interferences, resulting in more reliable data. Experimental data also show that storing manure for 40 days reduces the NH₄⁺ content from about 21,000 ppm to about 7000 ppm and that the use of additives such as perlite, vermiculite, or peat did not significantly affect NH₄⁺ retention compared with control samples (without additives). Based on the results of our study, we recommend using the distillation method for the determination of NH₄⁺ in the manure with additives in agrochemical and scientific laboratories.

Agro-industrial by-products such as sugar beet pulp (SBP) represent a substantial environmental and logistical challenge if not valorized within the circular bioeconomy. This study evaluated the bioconversion performance and waste reduction efficiency of black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens L.) larvae reared on SBP-based diets across three independent biological cycles (n = 9 replicate containers per dietary treatment, total N = 36 experimental units, each initially stocked with 6000 larvae). Four dietary formulations were compared on a dry matter (DM) basis: Control (100% wheat bran), Option 1 (60% wheat bran + 40% SBP), Option 2 (60% wheat bran + 40% SBP inoculated with Trichoderma sp. at 1 × 10⁶ colony-forming units (CFU)/g), and Option 3 (co-diet: 60% wheat bran + 30% SBP + 10% industrial molasses). Dietary formulation significantly affected all measured biological growth and waste reduction parameters (p < 0.05). Inclusion of 40% unsupplemented or fungal-inoculated SBP (Options 1 and 2) suppressed wet daily larval growth rate (12.65–12.83 mg/d) and impaired the feed conversion ratio (FCR 5.75–5.87) compared to the Control (15.72 mg/d; FCR 4.68), which is attributed to dietary protein dilution and high structural fiber density. Direct in situ inoculation with Trichoderma sp. yielded a modest increase in substrate mass reduction (SMR 53.04 ± 2.49% vs. 47.52 ± 2.67% in Option 1) but did not improve larval growth or feed conversion. In contrast, the co-diet formulation combining 30% SBP with 10% molasses (Option 3) achieved the highest larval survival rate (93.0 ± 1.8%), elevated daily wet growth rate (16.32 ± 0.83 mg/d; 3.26 mg DM/d), lowest FCR (4.52 ± 0.23), maximum substrate mass reduction (SMR 78.60 ± 2.15%), and peak biomass conversion efficiency (BCR 22.12 ± 1.13%), performing comparably to or outperforming the wheat bran Control. These findings demonstrate that simultaneous soluble carbohydrate enrichment and fiber reduction represent an effective dietary optimization strategy for valorizing high-fiber agro-industrial side-streams in commercial insect rearing systems.

Utilizing agro-industrial by-products such as sugar beet pulp (SBP) in black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens L.) rearing is an attractive strategy for circular feed production; however, its consequences on larval chemical composition and cuticular mineralization require detailed characterization. This study evaluated the effects of SBP inclusion, with or without Trichoderma sp. inoculation or beet molasses addition, on the proximate composition, macro- and trace mineral profiles, and gravimetric chitin yield of whole H. illucens larvae. Five-day-old larvae were reared across three independent biological cycles (n = 3 rearing containers per treatment) on four diets: Control (100% wheat bran), Option 1 (60% wheat bran + 40% SBP), Option 2 (60% wheat bran + 40% SBP with Trichoderma sp. at 1 × 10⁶ CFU/g), and Option 3 (60% wheat bran + 30% SBP + 10% molasses). Larvae were harvested without a pre-harvest fasting period to reflect commercial whole-larva processing. Dietary inclusion of SBP significantly decreased larval crude protein (44.66 ± 2.88% DM in Option 1, 44.36 ± 3.12% DM in Option 2, and 45.25 ± 0.97% DM in Option 3 vs. 50.85 ± 3.23% DM in Control; p = 0.038), reflecting the lower protein density of SBP. Crude fat (32.18–36.32% DM; p = 0.774) and water-soluble carbohydrates (1.80–2.20% DM; p = 0.388) did not differ significantly among treatments. SBP inclusion markedly increased the crude ash content (10.59–13.68% DM vs. 5.75 ± 0.52% DM in Control; p < 0.001) and whole-body calcium (7.46–8.84% DM vs. 2.43 ± 1.39% DM in Control; p = 0.003), driving the larval Ca:P ratio from 2.45:1 to 8.04:1. Manganese concentrations were elevated in all SBP diets (661.2–700.6 mg/kg vs. 589.9 ± 71.7 mg/kg in Control; p = 0.041), while iron was significantly higher in Option 1 (286.9 ± 71.5 mg/kg vs. 168.9 ± 34.4 mg/kg in Control; p = 0.024). The gravimetric chitin yield was significantly higher on 40% SBP diets (7.75 ± 0.22% DM in Option 1; 7.82 ± 0.18% DM in Option 2) than in the Control (7.34 ± 0.15% DM; p = 0.004), whereas Option 3 yielded the lowest chitin content (7.14 ± 0.12% DM). Fungal inoculation produced no significant differences over SBP alone. These results demonstrate that SBP-based diets substantially increase whole-body ash and calcium levels while altering chitin yields, providing critical compositional benchmarks for tailoring insect meal to non-ruminant livestock feeding.