Nitrogen as a Fertilizer, Nutrient, or Pollutant
Nitrogen can always be a fertilizer, nutrient, or pollutant depending on the circumstances and the environment it is in. As a fertilizer, nitrogen can be extremely useful in aiding the growth of many plants. As a nutrient, nitrogen is essential to many plants growth and survival. As a pollutant, nitrogen can not only affect the plant at the given time but be very detrimental many years down the road. No matter where you go nitrogen will always be either a fertilizer, nutrient, or pollutant.
Nitrogen can be considered as both a fertilizer and nutrient under the right constraints. I will use citrus plants as one of my examples. For citrus growers applying nitrogen to plants is a common and needed practice. “Spring is the best time to apply nitrogen to citrus. Research has shown that the demand for nitrogen in citrus is highest from bloom through June and most of the supplemental nitrogen fertilizer should be applied during this time period.” It is a major key to plant growth and development. Nitrogen is crucial to citrus plants for optimal growth and yield. Without nitrogen you can see suffering results for many years down the road.
Citrus responds readily to nitrogen nutrition. Current and past research shows that if nitrogen is maintained in fall-sampled citrus leaves between 2.4 and 2.6 % on a dry-weight basis for oranges, and between 2.2 and 2.4 % for lemons, a good balance is struck between yield, size and fruit quality. The evidence linking nitrogen to puff, crease, smaller fruit size and staining does exist, but these negative effects are most significant at nitrogen levels greater than 2.6 % nitrogen. Some growers have decreased nitrogen applicati...
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...le harming crops up to 8 years later. Nitrogen is an important element, whether it is in water or some other form, but either way it can easily be a vicious pollutant.
What category do you think nitrogen should be in--fertilizer, nutrient, or pollutant? Should you take into account how much nitrogen can help a plant like with fruit size or yield? Or should you weigh heavily on how much nitrogen can hurt a plant and for such an extended period of time? There are many ways to dispute either of these choices for or against but none of them are a perfect fit.
Works Cited
Craig Kallsen. http://cekern.ucdavis.edu/Custom Program143/Citrus Nitrogen Fertilizer.htm.
Power, Sally A.; Green, Emma R.; Barker, Chris G.; Bell, J. Nigel B.; Ashmore, Mike R. "Ecosystem recovery: heathland response to a reduction in nitrogen deposition." Global Change Biology 12
All of the plants in the nightshade family are nitrogen containing plants, including nicotine. Nitrogen is the second most important supplements for plant growth, below water. Nitrogen can be found in many different forms. It moves around natural ecosystems through the nitrogen cycle. The different forms of nitrogen decide its whether or not it is available to plants or whether it escapes and is no longer able to provide plants. The amount of useable nitrogen and the percent that is lost from the soil affects the supportability of productivity. If it is mishandled it is possible to have economic loss to the producer and have an environmental
For years farmers have been adding natural fertilizers to their crops. It is a big risk though. Over fertilizing is very dangerous. It puts high concentrations of salt into the soil. It can also affect the water resources nearby. Nitrogen, Phosphate, and Potassium are the basics of fertilizer. If a certain nutrient is short in supply the fertilizer might not work as well. Calcium, iron, manganese are also nutrients that might be needed. So don’t just trust the fertilizer bag that says it has all the nutrients, test it out. (Miller and Levine 717)
fertilizers contain nitrogen, a chemical that leads to negative effects on water quality. Nitrogen is
With the large and growing population, food sources are increasingly more important. In order to increase the crop yield, fertilizers are used. These fertilizers can come in two forms, inorganic and organic. Also, though these fertilizers may help the human race increase food supply, fertilizer, in excess, can damage the natural environment, killing other organisms. Fertilizer is comprised of three major macronutrients and whether it is organic or inorganic, it can have negative effects on the environment.
Nitrogen fertilizers: firstly nitrogen is found in the air, so air is pumped into a large vessel. The air is warmed and oxygen is removed becoming steam. This leaves hydrogen, nitrogen and carbon dioxide. To remove the carbon dioxide an electric current is introduced into the system. And finally remains ammonia. Ammonia is further processed adding air to the solution and making nitric acid. In conclusion when ammonia and nitric acid are combined is made ammonium nitrate, the component used as fertilizers.
One of the major sources of nitrates in groundwater is caused by agricultural activities, including chemicals applied to crops and waste from livestock production (Ready, R., & Henken, K.). The main problem with livestock waste and chemicals is their tendency to diffuse in water, which means they cannot be easily contained or pinpointed to the source. According to a study by the Great Plains Agricultural Council, agricultural land is the largest contributor of non-point source pollution to natural water resources in the High Plains region and throughout the United States. In this survey they found that Nitrate-N was the most commonly detected agricultural chemical in surface and groundwater (Elrashidi, M., Mays, M., Peaslee, S., & Hooper, D.)
form of nitrogen, harms organisms such as fish. Ammonia is also a major contributor to
Nutrients are substances that all living organisms need for growth and reproduction. Two major nutrients which are nitrogen and phosphorus occur naturally in water, soil and air. Nutrients are present in animal and human waste and chemical fertilizer. But, if the nutrients are in excessive amount, it will tend to cause nutrients pollution towards the environment. The over-development in agriculture and industrial area had accelerated the rate at which the wastewater containing excessive nutrients (mainly nitrogen and phosphorus) entering ecosystem without proper controlling system. There are many primary sources of nutrient pollution that will eventually create the eutrophication effect.
Nitrogen management is crucial component for sustainable crop production, it is desirable to adapt N supply with crop N use to maximize efficiency. In Egypt, due to intensive cultivation of high yielding crop varieties, the nutrients supplying capacity of soil is declining. Producers tend to apply insurance application of N to make them feel more confident about N sufficiency. These practices may lead to over application of N fertilizer and result in groundwater pollution by nitrate (NO3) due to the elevated levels of NO3 in the soil profile (Asadi et al. 2002). Accordingly, searching for alternative N sources and maintaining long term soil fertility and sustainability are a priority for studying.
Nitrogen is vital in our world. About four fifths of the air we breathe is nitrogen. Most importantly, nitrogen is one of the most important elements because it is the base of the food web and it is involved in a fundamental cycle. Free nitrogen in the air is absorbed by plants and converted to plant proteins. It is then eaten by animals that convert it to animal proteins and return it to the soil as nitrogen waste. Then bacterial action causes the nitrogen compounds to become free nitrogen again. Thus, plants need nitrogen to survive, the animals need the plant proteins to survive, and we in turn need animals and plants to survive.
The environment is stabilized by the biogeochemical cycles. Biogeochemical cycles are the processes that occur naturally and recycle the nutrients in different chemical forms from the non-living ecosystem to living organisms and then back to the non-living ecosystem. Biogeochemical cycles consist of five cycles which are iron cycle, sulphur cycle, phosphorus cycle, nitrogen cycle and carbon cycle. The most important and complex of biogeochemical cycles is the nitrogen cycle (Botkin & Keller, 2012). Nitrogen cycle allows the various nitrogenous species to cycle among the inert nitrogen gas in the atmosphere and soil (Newton, 1999). According to Newton (1999), “the nitrogen gas molecule is fixed by either natural processes, which include both biological and non-biological (lightning, combustion and volcanism) systems, or man-made processes (mainly industrial ammonia production)” (p. 1). There are four processes in the nitrogen cycle, namely nitrogen fixation, decomposition, nitrification, and lastly, denitrification (refer to Figure 1 in Appendix 1).
Nutrient are important for plant growth. These are also called essential elements and required for the plant to complete its life cycle. Nutrients are important for growth and development of crop, promotes vegetative and reproductive growth, provides protection against many devastating pathogens that is responsible for the yield loss in many economically important crop. Sixteen important nutrients are vital for plant growth. These are
Nitrogen is an essential element in the bodies of living organisms. Nitrogen atoms are found in all proteins and DNA. Nitrogen exists in the atmosphere as N₂ gas. In nitrogen fixation, bacteria convert N₂ into ammonia a form of nitrogen which is usable by plants. When animals eat the plants, they consume the nitrogen compounds. Nitrogen is a common limiting nutrient found within the nature, and agriculture. A limiting nutrient is the nutrient generally limits the growth. When fertilizers containing chemicals such as N₂ and P₂ are carried into sea bodies, they can result in blooms of algae and this is called eutrophication.
Nutrient providence is an important factor in plant growth. It determines the health of the plant and its overall longevity.
A fertiliser is any material /substance of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soils or to plant to supply one or more plant nutrient essential to the growth of and development of plants. Fertilizer is any substance used to add nutrients to the soil to promote soil fertility and increase plant growth. Fertilisers helps to enhance the plant growth. Simply fertilizer are nothing but the plant nutrients. Fertilisers can be classified into two categories: organic or inorganic