  The hydrogen emission from meteors is assumed to originate mainly from the
meteoroid composition, making it a potential tracer of H$_{2}$O molecules and
organic compounds. H$\alpha$ line was previously detected in individual
fireballs, but its variation in a larger meteor dataset and dependency on the
dynamical origin and physical properties have not yet been studied. Here we
investigate the relative intensity of H$\alpha$ within 304 meteor spectra
observed by the AMOS network. We demonstrate that H$\alpha$ emission is favored
in faster meteors ($v_i >>$ 30 km s$^{-1}$) which form the high-temperature
spectral component. H$\alpha$ was found to be a characteristic spectral feature
of cometary meteoroids with $\sim$ 92% of all meteoroids with detected
H$\alpha$ originating from Halley-type and long-period orbits. Our results
suggest that hydrogen is being depleted from meteoroids with lower perihelion
distances (q $<$ 0.4 au). No asteroidal meteoroids with detected H emission
were found. However, using spectral data from simulated ablation of different
meteorite types, we show that H emission from asteroidal materials can occur,
and apparently correlates with their water and organic matter content.
Strongest H emission was detected from carbonaceous chondrites (CM and CV) and
achondrites (ureilite and aubrite), while it was lacking in most ordinary
chondrites. The detection of H$\alpha$ in asteroidal meteoroids could be used
to identify meteoroids of carbonaceous or achondritic composition. Overall, our
results suggest that H$\alpha$ emission correlates with the emission of other
volatiles (Na and CN) and presents a suitable tracer of water and organic
matter in meteoroids.
