The Benefits and Impications of Using Fertilisers for Improving Plant Productivity To the Environment
In my point of view I think that fertilizers are of use to the
environment in some ways but can also be potentially damaging in
others. The term fertilisers is stated as " A substance usually added
to soil to increase its ability to support plant growth" by Encarta.
This shows that fertilisers are needed to keep soil in good conditions
to allow the maximum productivity for plant growth. This is why they
are important to the agricultural industry because they allow maximum
productivity and higher yields, meaning more money for the farmer. But
fertilisers can also be potentially hazardous to the environment; they
can pollute local water supplies, harm humans and animals and can add
to the amount of volatile gases being added to the atmosphere.
Firstly fertilizers are potentially good for the environment in ways
that they improve the soil structure and nutrient content, this
therefore improves plant growth. Fertilisers are needed to allow a
farmer to have maximum productivity in the crop that they are growing.
So they are vital for economic reasons to allow the most productivity
the land can give, (high yield) so the most money can be got from
selling the high yield amount of crops. Also fertilisers help the
condition of the plants to be top condition by providing them the
first hand nutrients, which are vital for good growing that may not
already be in the soil.
Fertilisers normally consist of macronutrients (the main nutrients in
mass quantities) and micronutrients (e.g. copper, zinc etc), which are
also found, in fertilisers but...
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plants at the bottom die of lack of sunlight and animals can die
through lack of oxygen, which has been used up by the algae. This
ruins the ecosystem of the water supplies and the food chain around
that area is dramatically effected because animals which used fish to
feed off. No longer have these animals as there food supply so in turn
decreases amount of plant dwelling animals. This is called
eutrophication, nitrates and phosphates polluting water supplies. This
is a strongly negative reason why fertilisers should not be used in
the environment, because they are very hazardous to surrounding
wildlife. And when not used correctly like this the risks of using
them are too high on the treat to the environment, so practices to
monitor their content in the soil is vitally needed if they should be
used.
Nitrogen and nitrates relate to Hypoxia via the process of eutrophication. Since Nitrogen is a limiting nutrient in most waters, the added input of nitrate causes massive growth in algae. The algae rapidly consume all available N, and once the nutrient is limited again, the alga dies en masse. As the alga decomposes, oxygen is depleted in the water. This lowers dangerously lowers the level of dissolved oxygen in the water, which harms living organisms in the area. Small organisms and organisms that are immobile or unable to escape low-oxygen areas are particularly vulnerable. Hypoxia and resulting “dead zones” are harmful to local fishing and shrimping industries and algal blooms hurt the tourism industry. Hypoxia has lead to a decrease of about 25% in the brown shrimp habitat, forcing shrimping operations further offshore. As the hypoxia issue continues to grow, negative human effects will only increase. Since nitrate runoff from ag. has been proven to be the dominant source of hypoxia, policies could be enacted to effectively deal with “point-source” pollution. This makes enacting environmental policy more easily adapted, possibly included in past policy such as the Clean Water Act.
to the bottom, it caused the oxygen levels to drop. This killed fish and created less of a food
My group, fertilizer group 3, is testing the variables of plant color and number of leaves. Fertilizer can affect that drastically! Those two variables are basically what determine a healthy plant. Fertilizer can help to boost the minerals in the soil and give the plant what it needs to survive and be healthy.
...at over planting can do to the land, the majority of the United States just moved on and continued to treat the land just as poorly as before. John Pursell views chemical fertilizer as a thing that turns soil into “chemical wasteland” and mentions that today’s soil is often not good enough to resist heavy rainfalls.
Hydroponics are the process of growing plants in sand, gravel, or liquid, with added nutrients but without soil. Hydroponics are mainly growing soil based plants in water. There are several different types of hydroponics, such as wick systems, deep water culture, NFT, Ebb and Flow, Areoponics, and drip systems. An excellent example of hydroponics is the deep water culture which was used or our hydroponics unit. The process was brought to popular attention in the United States in 1937 by Dr. W. F. Gericke, who introduced the word "hydroponic" (from the Greek words for "water" and "work") and publicly displayed immense tomato plants cultivated by this method (encyclopedia.com). Hydroponics are very beneficial to our ecosystems because hydroponics
The use of chemicals on conventional produce may not make it to our dinner tables but it does show up elsewhere. It leaves traces in our water, in our air and in our soil. Over time the nitrogen based fertilizers that are used ultimately kill the ground that they are meant to make fertile. According to a 21 year study performed by a group of Swiss researchers, who by focusing on the lev...
Topsoil, air, sunrays, and water are perfect illustrations of the negative effects. Pesticides predictably mark numerous adjacent plants and animals causing damage and demise. The spray’s fatal effects fluctuate from one organism to the next. For instance, because pesticides leaks into water channels, heaps of fish perish annually. Likewise, pesticides fuel air pollution, and even harm the ozone layer once they become air borne after application onto the upcoming crops. According to the EPA, a crops capability to sprout and arise is similarly afflicted by pesticides. As the pesticide is absorbed within the soil, it depletes necessary elements like nitrogen and phosphorus found in fertile soil causing a weakened route systems. Not only does this weaken the plant, but it also causes great distress in nutrient value the crop should produce. Furthermore, within the article "Harmful Pesticides Found in Everyday Food Products" Lu proposes due to the survival of the fittest, pest resilience will escalate until pesticides no longer become an efficient method of protection. Therefore, pesticide’s initial effort to generate improved crops essentially yields a further toxic and chemical rich
Not only does pollution destroy plants but it also affects the health of animals and humans. The affects of pollution on living organisms maybe short and long term. As a child growing I had a friend who was form India, and he would visit every few
Phytoextraction is the uptake and storage of pollutants in the plants stem or leaves. Some plants, called hyperaccumulators, draw pollutants through the roots. After the pollutants accumulate in the stem and leaves the plants are harvested. Then plants can be either burned or sold. Even if the plants cannot be used, incineration and disposal of the plants is still cheaper than traditional remediation methods. As a comparison, it is estimated a site containing 5000 tons of contaminated soil will produce only 20-30 tons of ash (Black, 1995). This method is particularly useful when remediating metals. Some metals are also being recycled from the ash.
Artificial planting is the process of moving and planting a large (existing tree) tree from one site to another. It’s also known as ‘Tree spading’ or ‘transplanting’. The traditional method of transplanting was to use trained manual labour to help dig out the entire root system which was a lot of work. Artificial planting uses a crane to make a trench of around one to two metres at the base of the tree, followed by the pulling out of the tree. The root ball is then covered with wet husk or resin and is then transported to the new location. The soil from the new location is then used to cover up the trench in the first location and hence the tree is successfully retrenched and replanted at another location without any damage. The process of Artificial Planting takes a lot of specialised preparation and engineering methods. The psychological status of the tree has to be ascertained to be disease free and healthy, before the transplantation. The new location of the tree should also be checked to see to its disease-free requirement as well as the conditions of optimum sunlight and soil makeup.
Soil is the most important non-renewable resource on any farm. Healthy soil is key to a good
Fertilizer any substance of natural or synthetic origin, which are applied to the soil or tissue implant to provide plant nutrients or more vital to the development of plants. The effective increasing crop production and increase the quality of the crop. There are two types of fertilizers.
To understand why is agriculture important in the world of today, then first of all we must know what agriculture is? Agriculture is the basic material production of society, the use of land for agriculture and livestock, mining plants and animals as raw materials and labor to produce mainly food and some raw materials for industry. Agriculture is a major industry, covering many disciplines: planting, breeding and processing of agricultural products; in the broadest sense, also including forestry and fisheries. Agriculture is an important economic sector in the economy of many countries, especially in the past century , when the industry has not yet developed. Since the dawn of history, agriculture has been one of the importance means of producing
Toxic dust is another repercussion created by soil pollution. This will pollute the environment and have serious health implications, in relation to people and animals. Other negative impacts include chemistry change (in soil) which can occur as a result of the existence of harmful chemicals, even if present at low concentrations. This has the ability to change the metabolism of micro organisms and arthropods which reside within the soil. This then eradicates a portion of the food chain, which can have serious consequences for consumer and/or predator species. DDT materials, for example, have resulted in the eggs of many Avian species having weakened shells. This has resulted in increased chick mortality, as well as increased extinction risk. Fatality of many soil organisms, such as earthworms, can have a dramatic effect on soil structure. Soil pollution, ad the consequences thereof, may also have adverse effects on human communities. Soil pollution, which may infiltrate groundwater acquifers and which is eventually consumed by humans, can have a host of negative impacts on health. One’s health can also be affected by being in contact with soil, and inhalation of vaporized contaminants may occur. Chronic exposure to lead, as well as other metals (like chromium and solvents); some pesticides; herbicides and petroleum increases one’s susceptibility to Cancer. Such exposure can also cause congenital disorders, as well as other health conditions, over the long-term. When exposed to soil which has high dosages of benzene in it, one may be susceptible to illnesses such as leukemia. Incidences of Kidney damage and diseases which are irreversible can also occur as a consequence of being exposed to soils containing Mercury and
Plant nutrition is area of plant biology that is of the utmost importance for the proliferation of plants. Without proper nutrition, plants would simply cease to exist unless drastic alterations were made. There are certain elements that are required for the plant to grow and reproduce; these elements are known as essential elements. There are three requirements of an essential element: the element must be required for the completion of the plant’s life cycle, the element must not be replaceable by another element in whole, and finally the element must be direction involved in the metabolism of the plant. Chemical compounds that are involved in proper nutrition have been designated as nutrients, and further classified as macronutrients and micronutrients. Macronutrients are needed for growth, metabolism, and many other functions, but are designated as “macro” because they are required in larger amounts. Macronutrients include carbohydrates, proteins, and fat molecules. Micronutrients have a much wider function that depends on the exact micronutrient. Micronutrients are designated as so because they are needed in much smaller amounts when compared to macronutrients. Examples of micronutrients include vitamins and minerals.