Nitrogen (N) fertilizers are one of the most expensive inputs in agricultural settings. Additionally, the loss of N increases costs, contributes to soil acidification, and causes off-site pollution of the air, groundwater and waterways. This study reviews current knowledge about technologies for N fertilization with potential to increase N use efficiency and reduce its negative effects on the environment. Classic inorganic sources such as urea and ammonium sulfate are the major sources utilized, while controlled N release fertilizers have not been significantly adopted for cereals and oil crops. Microorganisms, with the exception of Rhizobium sp. in soybeans, are also not widely used nowadays (e.g., plant growth-promoting bacteria and cynobacteria). The interest in implementing new N fertilization knowledge is stimulating the development of sensors to diagnose the N status and decision support systems for integrating several variables to optimize sources, rates and methods of application. Among potential new technologies we identified the incipient development of nanofertilizers, nutrient formulations to coat seeds, and recycled nutrients. Furthermore, increasing concern about the environmental consequences of N may facilitate the implementation of innovations outside the farm such as more effective regulations to guide N fertilization and methods to manufacture N fertilizers that are more energy-efficient and less CO 2 equivalent emitting.

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Fungal biosorption is an environmental biotechnology based on the ability of the fungal cell wall to concentrate harmful water pollutants. Among its advantages are its simplicity, high efficiency, flexibility of operation, and low cost. The biosorptive performance of fungal pellets is getting growing attention since they offer process advantages over the culture of disperse mycelia, such as an enhanced biomass separation, and a high resilience in severe environmental conditions. In this review, biosorption capacity of fungal pellets towards heavy metals, dyes, phenolic compounds, humic substances, pesticides, and pharmaceuticals was reviewed. Available data about the adsorption capacity of pellets, their removal efficiency, and the operational conditions used were collected and synthesized. The studies relying on biodegradation were discarded to present only the possibilities of fungal pellets for removing these concern pollutants through biosorption. It was found that the biosorption of complex mixtures of pollutants on fungal pellets is scarcely studied, as well as the interfering effect of anions commonly found in water and wastewater. Furthermore, there is a lack of research with real wastewater and at pilot and large scale. These topics need to be further explored to take full advantage of fungal pellets on improving the quality of aquatic systems.