Organic Materials Management

Glossary

The following is a glossary of terms dealing with organic materials management in general. You may also be interested in the Conversion and Biomass to Energy Glossary.

Term

Explanation

Actinomycetes:

Any of a group of generally low-oxygen–utilizing bacteria identified by a branching growth pattern that results in large threadlike structures. Many species occur in soil and are harmless to animals and higher plants.

Adjuvant:

An ingredient that improves the properties of a formulation to which it has been added.

Aerate/aeration:

To supply with air or expose to the circulation of air: aerate soil or soil aeration.

Aerobic:

Literally, "with oxygen." Life or biological processes that can occur only in the presence of oxygen, such as the digestion of organic matter by bacteria.

Anaerobic:

"Without oxygen." A biological process occurring in the absence of oxygen. Marked by a foul odor.

Arthropod:
(Greek--joint foot)

Any of numerous invertebrate animals of the phylum (family) Arthropoda, including the insects, crustaceans, arachnids, and myriapods, that are characterized by a chitinous exoskeleton and a segmented body to which jointed appendages are articulated in pairs.

Bacteria:

Microscopic single-celled organisms lacking a nucleus. They are structured as either rod-shaped, sphere-shaped or spiral-shaped.

Beetle mites:
(Acari)

Heavily armored fungus- and needle-eaters.

Best management practices:

The most effective and practicable method of preventing or reducing the amount of pollution generated by pollution sources. Often abbreviated BMPs.

Bioaerosols:

Airborne particles of biological origin including bacteria, and viruses, fungi and yeasts, pollens and organic matter.

Bioassay:

Appraisal of the biological activity of a substance by testing its effect on an organism and comparing the result with some agreed standard.

Biodiversity:

The variability among living organisms on the earth, including the variability within and between species and within and between ecosystems.

Biofiltration:

The harnessing of natural processes for volatile organic compounds (VOC) and odor control. Example: an air stream is passed through a biofilter containing microorganisms, which metabolize the VOCs, turning them into carbon dioxide and water.

Bioremediation:

The use of plants or microorganisms to clean up pollution or to solve other environmental problems.

Biosolids:

The nutrient-rich organic materials resulting from the treatment of sewage sludge and wastewater.

CAFO:

Combined animal feeding operation (CAFO). Animal feeding operations (AFOs) are livestock-raising operations, such as hog, cattle and poultry farms, which confine and concentrate animal populations and their wastes. CAFO is the largest category of AFO with greater than 1,000 "animal units" and is a significant contributor to the pollution of waters of the U.S.

Casing layer:

A moist layer of peat moss mixed with a small amount of calcium carbonate that growers apply over mycelium to retain moisture and provide a growing surface for mushrooms.

Catchment:

a) A catching or collecting of water, especially rainwater. b) A structure, such as a basin or reservoir, used for collecting or draining water. c) The amount of water collected in such structure. d) A catchment area.

Cellobiose:

A disaccharide obtained by the hydrolysis of cellulose by cellulase. Formula: C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁

Cellulase:

Any enzyme that converts cellulose to the disaccharide cellobiose.

Cellulose:

The main substance in the cell walls of plants, which is used in making paper, artificial fibers, and plastics.

Chitin:

White, horny substance found in the outer skeleton of insects, crabs, and lobsters and in the internal structures of other invertebrates.

CNMP:

Comprehensive Nutrient Management Plan is a conservation plan that is unique to animal feeding operations and which incorporates environmental practices to utilize animal manure and organic by-products as a beneficial resource to ensure that both production and natural resource protection goals are achieved.

Co-composting:

The process of blending biosolids with manure or other green waste materials to produce compost. Co-composting includes both the active and curing phases of the composting process.

Compost:

The product resulting from the controlled biological decomposition of organic material. Compost feedstock materials include landscape trimmings, agricultural crop residues, paper pulp, food scrap, wood chips, manure and bio-solids.

Composting:

The biological decomposition process of organic materials such as leaves, grass clippings, brush, and food waste into a soil amendment.

Conversion technology:

Term used for the technologies that convert unwanted organic materials into high-value products such as energy, alternative fuels, solvents, and other products.

Cover crop:

A crop, such as clover, planted between periods of regular crop production to control weeds, prevent soil erosion and provide humus or nitrogen to the soil.

Crown:

The junction of root and stem, usually at the level of the ground.

Decomposer:

An organism that feeds on and breaks down organic materials into simpler chemical compounds.

Decomposition:

The process by which organic materials chemically break down into simpler compounds.

Disaccharide:

Any of a class of sugars, such as maltose, lactose, and sucrose, having two linked monosaccharide units per molecule.

Ecosystem:

All the living things in an area and the way they affect each other and the environment.

Exoskeleton:

An external supportive covering of an animal (as an arthropod).

Feedstock:

The raw material used for chemical or biological processes. For example, in composting feedstock might include grass clippings, leaves, food scraps, plant trimmings, straw, and animal bedding.

Foliage:

The leaves of plants or trees.

Food scraps:

All excess food, including surplus, spoiled, or unsold food such as vegetables and culls (lower quality vegetables or trimmings such as onion peels or carrot tops), as well as plate scrapings. Food scraps are also called food remnants, food residuals, or food waste.

Food waste:

Used both as a verb and as a noun, it refers to all surplus food. The term has fallen out of favor with composters, who prefer to view this material as a resource rather than as waste material.

Food Web:

The totality of interacting food chains in an ecological community.

Fulvic acid:

A yellow to yellow-brown humic substance that is soluble in water under all pH conditions.

Fungi:

Saprophytic and parasitic plants that lack chlorophyll and include molds, rusts, mildews, smuts and mushrooms.

Grasscycling:

The natural recycling of grass by leaving clippings on the lawn when mowing. Grass clippings will quickly decompose, returning valuable nutrients to the soil.

Green waste:

A term used to refer to urban landscape waste generally consisting of leaves, grass clippings, weeds, yard trimmings, wood waste, branches and stumps, home garden residues, and other miscellaneous organic materials.

Heavy Metals:

Not rock music, but in science, a common hazardous waste that can damage organisms at low concentrations and which tends to accumulate in the food chain.

Hessian:

No, not a German mercenary or native of Hesse. In this instance, hessian is referring to a coarse sack cloth made from hemp.

Homopteran:

Any of an order or suborder of insects (as cicadas, aphids, and scale insects) that have sucking mouthparts.

Humic Acid:

Any of various organic acids obtained from humus.

Humus:

Not a Middle-Eastern dish, but the organic component of soil formed by the decomposition of animal or vegetable matter.

Hydrolysis:

A catch-all term for any reaction in which the water molecule is split.

Hyphae:

The plural of hypha, which is any of the filaments that constitute the body (mycelium) of a fungus.

Inoculate:

To implant microorganisms onto or into a culture medium.

Inorganic matter:

from a non-living source such as rocks, sand and plastic.

Integrated pest management (IPM):

Integrated pest management (IPM) is an ecosystem-based strategy that focuses on long-term prevention of pests or their damage through a combination of techniques such as biological control, habitat manipulation, modification of cultural practices, and use of resistant varieties. Pesticides are used only after monitoring indicates they are needed according to established guidelines, and treatments are made with the goal of removing only the target organism.

Invertebrate:

An organism lacking a spinal column.

Laminarinase:

A polysaccharide that is found in various brown algae and yields only glucose on hydrolysis.

Leftovers:

May refer to food prepared in excess that has not been served but may be collected for a human food donation or recovery program. Leftovers can also refer to plate scrapings that are not appropriate for human consumption.

Lerp Psyllid:

A plant-juice sucking homopterans in the insect family Psyllidae. Redgum lerp psyllid nymphs (immatures) form a cover called a "lerp," which is a small white, hemispherical cap composed of solidified honeydew and wax. The U.C. Berkeley Biological Control of the Red Gum Lerp Psyllid page provides additional information on Lerp Psyllid.

Lignin:

A complex polymer, the chief non-carbohydrate constituent of wood, that binds to cellulose fibers and hardens and strengthens the cell walls of plants.

Mesophilic:
(Gr.--Cold loving)

Describes bacteria which are active in the temperature range between 40-110 degrees Fahrenheit, but thrive between 70-90 degrees Fahrenheit. Most of the decomposition that takes place in a compost pile is mesophilic.

Microbial spore suspensions:

Microscopically visible particles dispersed throughout a less dense liquid from which they are easily filtered but not easily settled because of system viscocity or molecular interactions. Or, compost tea!

Microorganisms:

Microscopically small living things that digest organic material through metabolic activity.

Mold:

A superficial often woolly growth produced especially on damp or decaying organic matter or on living organisms.

Monosaccharides:

A sugar not decomposable to simpler sugars by hydrolysis.

Morphology:

The form and structure of an organism or any of its parts

Mulch:

Generally, mulch is a layer of organic material spread over the bare surface of soil to block the loss of moisture and to discourage the growth of weeds. For these pages, mulch is the term used to refer to non-composted materials, such as shredded or chipped bark, which eventually rot and add l to the soil, enhancing its fertility.

Municipal organic materials:

Organic materials generated by residential, business, institutional, and agricultural sources, which are then collected and sent to City and county waste facilities.

Municipal solid waste (MSW):

Garbage. Refuse offering the potential for energy recovery; includes residential, commercial, and institutional wastes.

Mycelium:

The body of a fungus, composed of many threads of tissue. Mushrooms do not reproduce by seed, but by spores. The spores germinate to produce threadlike structures known as hyphae. Collectively, a mass of hyphae are known as the mycelium.

Myriapoda:

Any of a group of arthropods having the body made up of numerous similar segments nearly all of which bear true jointed legs and including the millipedes and centipedes.

Native plant:

The native plants of a given area are those that grew there prior to European contact. Native plants have co-evolved with animals, fungi, and microbes to form a complex network of relationships. These plants are the foundation of native ecosystems, or natural communities.

Nematode:

Any un-segmented worm of the class Nematoda, having a tough outer cuticle. The group includes free-living forms and disease-causing parasites, such as the hookworm and filaria.
Also called: nematode worm, roundworm

Nitrates:

A compound containing nitrogen and oxygen that can exist in the atmosphere or in water and that can have harmful effects on humans and animals at high concentrations.

Non-Aerated:

No air or circulation of air.

Nonpoint source pollution:

Diffuse discharges of waste throughout the natural environment which are a major cause of water pollution. Difficult to pinpoint physically, but can be classified by type: urban runoff, agriculture, mining, septic tank leach fields, and silviculture.

Organic matter:

Derived from or produced through the biological activity of a living thing.

Parasite:

An organism living in, with, or on another organism for existence or support without making a useful or adequate return.

Pathogen:

Any organism capable of producing disease or infection. Found in animal waste material, pathogens are killed by the high temperatures (131 degrees Fahrenheit or higher for 3 days) of the composting process.

Phyllosphere:

The three-dimensional micro-environmental space surrounding a leaf.

Phylloxera:

Scientific Name: Daktulosphaira vitifoliae--a tiny aphid-like insect that feeds on Vitis vinifera grape roots, stunting growth of vines or killing them.

Phylum:

A series of animals or plants genetically connected by one or more fundamental characteristics that set them apart from all other animals and plants and forming a primary category of the animal or plant kingdom.

Phytophthora cinnamomi:

A destructive parasitic fungi causing root rot in plants.

Phytophthora ramorum:

A newly identified plant pathogen that causes Sudden Oak Death in a variety of hosts.

Polysaccharide:

A carbohydrate that can be decomposed by hydrolysis into two or more molecules of monosaccharides; especially : any of the more complex carbohydrates (as cellulose, starch, or glycogen)

Preconsumer food scraps:

Food that has not made it to a diner’s plate. Preconsumer scraps may include food processing wastes such as vegetable culls, brewery by-products, coffee grounds, or kitchen preparation wastes. Restaurants, for example, often cut off inedible portions of food before serving it to diners. This can include carrot tops, outer leaves of lettuce, broccoli stems, or similar trimmings.

Postconsumer food scraps:

Food that has been served to diners but is not eaten; also called plate scrapings. This may include vegetables, salad dressings, sauces, cheese, meat, and bones as well as nonfood items, such as napkins. If not separated, these and other nonfood contaminants like straws, cups, and plastic utensils will be a part of this blend.

Protozoa:

Unicellular animals which have varied morphology and physiology, and often complex life cycles. Represented in almost every kind of habitat.

Psychrophilic:
(Gr.--Warmth loving)

Describes bacteria which are active in a low temperature range (below 65 degrees Fahrenheit), but thrive around 55 degrees Fahrenheit.

Rhizome:

An underground, horizontal plant stem that produces shoots above and roots below, and is distinguished from a true root in possessing buds, nodes, and usually scale-like leaves.

Rhizosphere:

The soil surrounding and directly influenced by plant roots.

Saprophytic:

Obtaining food by absorbing dissolved organic material.

Side dressing:

The application of fertilizer or organic matter around a plant, the material being left on the soil surface rather than being dug in. Also known as top dressing.

Silviculture:

The care and cultivation of forest trees; forestry.

Soil amendment:

A material, such as organic matter or sand, mixed into soil to improve growing conditions.

Soluble:

Susceptible of being dissolved in or as if in a liquid and especially water.

Spawn:

The term used for the combination of mycelium and substrate is spawn. This can be thought of as the vegetative part of the mushroom.

Stolon:

A horizontal stem at or just below the surface of the ground that roots at the nodes and produces new plants. Also called "runners."

Substrate:

Any combination of materials that provide support, water retention, aeration, or nutrient retention for plant growth. In this instance, substrate is compost into which mushroom spawn is distributed.

Sudden Oak Death:

A disease infecting oaks and several other ornamental plants that were noticed in recent years in coastal California and small geographic area of Oregon. The United States Agricultural Association (USDA) site provides additional information on Phytophthora ramorum.

Thatch:

A mat of undecomposed plant material (as grass roots) accumulated next to the soil in a grassy area (as a lawn)

Thermophilic:
(Gr.--Heat loving)

Heat-loving, applied especially to certain bacteria requiring high temperatures for normal development.

Tilth:

The condition of soil or land that has been tilled, especially with respect to suitability for promoting plant growth.

Trommel:

A revolving cylindrical sieve used for screening or sizing compost and mulch.

Vermicomposting:

The process whereby worms feed on slowly decomposing materials (e.g., vegetable scraps) in a controlled environment to produce a nutrient-rich soil amendment.

Volatile Organic Compound (VOC):

Carbon-containing compounds that evaporate into the air (with a few exceptions). VOCs contribute to the formation of smog and/or may themselves be toxic. VOCs often have an odor, and some examples include gasoline, alcohol, and the solvents used in paints.

Watershed:

The total land area that contributes water to a river, stream, lake or other body of water. Synonymous with drainage area, drainage basin, and catchment.

Wood-overs:

Also called "compost-overs," wood-overs are the large, woody parts of the compost pile that have not completely broken down and will not pass through a minus one-half inch trommel screen.

Xeriscaping:

The practice of landscaping with slow-growing, drought-tolerant plants.

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Last updated: November 24, 2008

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Contacts: http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/Organics/Contacts.htm