FERTILIZERS

Substances which are added to the soil to increase its

fertility are called Fertilizers.

Many natural substance like leaves, cow dung, bone meal
compost etc are used to make up the deficiency of
nitrogen , phosphorus and potassium in soils. These
substance are known as natural fertilizers.

Since the demand for fertilizers cannot be met by natural
fertilizers alone, many compounds are manufactured to
provide nitrogen, potassium and phosphorous to plants.
These chemicals are known as artificial or chemical
fertilizers.
Important natural inorganic fertilizers are potassium
salts and rock phosphate. The important source of
potassium are wood ash and waste materials of sugar
beet crop.

Potassium salts increase the quantity of crops and
enable the plants to resist the diseases. Other naturally
occurring potassium salts are niter or
saltpeter(Potassium nitrate) carnalities ( containing
potassium chloride)


Rock phosphate is a naturally occurring phosphorous
fertilizer.
Artificial inorganic fertilizers (Synthetic fertilizers)
Nitrogenous fertilizers:
Important nitrogenous fertilizers are
1) Ammonium sulphate

2) Ammonium phosphate

3) Calcium Cyanamid

4) Urea
Phosphatic fertilizers:-

Important phosphatic fertilizers are
1) Super phosphate of lime ( Calcium
super phosphate)

2) Triple super phosphate

3) Ammonium superphosphate
Mixed fertilizers:-

A fertilizer which contains more than one plant
nutrients is called mixed fertilizer.


Mixed fertilizer Containing nitrogenous,
phosphatic and potash fertilizers in
definite proportions.


Such fertilizers are called NPK fertilizers
NPK Value:-

The efficiency of a fertilizer is expressed in terms of
NPK Value. N,P,K stands for Nitrogen, Phosphorous
and Potassium.

It expresses the nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium
contents in terms of elementary nitrogen, P
2
O
5
, and
K
2
O respectively .


Eg: NPK Vlue of 10:5:20 for a mixed fertilizer means
that the particular fertilizer contains 10% nitrogen,
5% P
2
O
5
and 20% K
2
O.
Impact of excessive use of
fertilizers on environment
The increased use of fertilizers to expand food
supplies have come at a large cost to our
environment.


Modern agricultural techniques are typically
wasteful in their use of fertilizers.
Often, many farmers add large amounts of
fertilizer or manure at the time of sewing in
order to cover and protect the young plants.


This technique is inefficient, since the young
plants are unable to absorb most of the nitrogen.

Therefore, much of the nitrogen is lost to the
environment in a number of ways.
For example, the nitrate directly leaching off into
the environment as water runs off of the field is a
leading cause.


Once the nitrogen is introduced into the ground
system, the ammonium ions, which are normally in
equilibrium with ammonia in the soil, are disturbed.
This action causes a disruption in the pH of the soil,
which affects plant growth.
Phosphate based fertilizers are also used in addition
to nitrogen based fertilizers. Unfortunately, as with
nitrogen based fertilizers, there are negative
environmental consequences.


The increasing use of phosphate fertilizers has led to
the accumulation of phosphorus in soils. This causes
problems because the means by which phosphorus is
immobilized cannot accommodate for the additional
phosphorus that fertilizers add to soils.
Consequently, high concentrations of
phosphorus flow away with agricultural
runoff.

The toxic effects of phosphorus become
noticeable when agricultural runoff is
deposited in lakes , streams and other
water sources because excessive amount
of phosphorus leads to eutrophication.
Eutrophication, a natural process by which lakes, streams and
some estuaries age, is sped up by activities such as land
clearing, production and application of fertilizers, agricultural
runoff and release of human waste.

The previously mentioned processes result in the mobilization
of nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus into aquatic
systems.


These nutrients disrupt aquatic systems by increasing the
growth of unwanted algae and aquatic weeds. As these
organisms die they reduce the oxygen supply available for
other organisms.
Without dissolved oxygen in the water, most organisms
cannot survive. The depletion of oxygen also promotes
the conversion of compounds to their toxic form which
may potentially harm more organisms.
If the fertilizers end up in drinking water,
they can cause health problems for people
BIO FERTILIZERS:
Biofertilizers are ready to use live formulates of such
beneficial microorganisms which on application to
seed, root or soil mobilize the availability of nutrients
by their biological activity in particular, and help build
up the micro-flora and in turn the soil health in
general
With the introduction of green revolution technologies
the modern agriculture is getting more and more
dependent upon the steady supply of synthetic inputs
(mainly fertilizers), which are products of fossil fuel
(coal+ petroleum).

Adverse effects are being noticed due to the excessive
and imbalanced use of these synthetic inputs. This
situation has lead to identifying harmless inputs like
biofertilizers.

Use of such natural products like biofertilizers in crop
cultivation will help in safeguarding the soil health and
also the quality of crop products.
Benefits from using biofertilizers

Increase crop yield by 20-30%.

Replace chemical nitrogen and phosphorus by 25%
.
Stimulate plant growth.

Activate the soil biologically.

Restore natural soil fertility.

Provide protection against drought and some soil
borne diseases.
Advantages of bio-fertilizers

1.Cost effective.

2.Suppliment to fertilizers.

3.Eco-friendly (Friendly with nature).

4.Reduces the costs towards fertilizers use,
especially regarding nitrogen and phosphorus.
Types of biofertilizers available
1.For Nitrogen
Rhizobium for legume crops.
Azotobacter/Azospirillum for non legume crops.
Acetobacter for sugarcane only.
Blue Green Algae (BGA) and Azolla for low land
paddy.
2.For Phosphorous
Phosphatika for all crops to be applied with
Rhizobium, Azotobacter, Azospirillum and
Acetobacter
3.For enriched compost

Cellulolytic fungal culture
Phosphotika and Azotobacter culture
PESTICIDES
Pesticides are chemical substances used to kill
insects, fungi, rodents,weeds or other living
things which are harmful to plants, animals or
foodstuffs.


Pesticides function as poisons for the important
biological process of insects, fungi etc which
lead to the death of these organisms.
Classification of pesticides

Depending upon the purpose for which the pesticides are
used, they are classified as
follows.

i) insecticides v) algaecide
ii) herbicide vi) molluscicides
iii) fungicides vii) miticides
iv) rodenticides viii) nematocides.

Pesticides may be organic, inorganic, or compounds
obtained from natural products.
Insecticides:-

Chemicals used to kill the insects are called
insecticides. Insecticides are further classified into
Stomach poisons, contact poison and fumigants .
Stomach poisons are absorbed through the digestive
system of the insects. These are effective against
insets like caterpillar. Eg; Acid lead arsenate ,
cryolite ,sodium fluoride.

Contact poisons affects the insects on contact.eg:
DDT,BHC,Dieldrin(Chlorinated hydrocarbon)
melathion,parathion(Organo phosphate
compounds).

Fumigents aregaseous chemicals which kills insects
by entering directly to the respiratory systems. Eg:
Hydrogen cyanide, naphthalene ,nicotine
Herbicides:-

Herbicides are used to destroy weeds (destroy the
growth of plants).

eg: 2,4 D (2,4 dichloro phenoxy acetic acid)

2,4,5 T (2,4,5 trichloro phenoxy acetic acid ).
Fungicides:-

Fungicides are are chemicals which are
used to prevent the growth of fungi or
eradicate fungal diseases of plants.

Eg: Lime, sulphur, formalin etc
Rodenticides:-


These are chemicals used to kill rats and mice
which destroy crops and spread deseases.


Eg: Sodium fluoroacetate, Zinc phosphide etc
Algaecide:-

These are chemicals added to water to destroy algae.

Eg: copper sulphate

Molluscicides:-

These are chemicals used to destroy mollusks like
snails , slugs etc

eg: Copper sulphate, metaldehyde etc
Miticides:-

Chemicals used to destroy mites are called
miticides .
eg: organo phosphates.

Nematocides:-

These are chemicals used for the distruction of
nematodes like round worms, thread worms etc
.
eg: dimethoate
Environmental impact of pesticides
The excessive use of pesticides have created tremendous adverse effects on
environment

1) Environmental pollution:-

Pesticides drained to water bodies causes water
pollution . hence water in river, lakes and seas gets
polluted which becomes hazardous to aquatic animals
like fishes.

Pesticides may also washed down to ground water
which pollute drinking water. During the spraying of
pesticides it may reach in to atmosphere and pollute
the air.
2) Certain pesticides such as DDT, BHC etc persisted
in the environment accumulated in blood,milk
and fat of animals.Beyond certain permitted
levels, they are very dangerous to human beings
and animals


3) Pesticides may kill the friendly insecticides along
with the inimical insects during its action


4) Different herbicides used for destroying weeds can
destroy the vegetation in the neighboring areas also.
5) Repeated use of pesticides may produce
immunity or resistance in insects. Resistance has
been observed in houseflies, mosquitoes etc.


6) Effect on human health ;- Pesticides cause
several harmful effects in human body.
Pesticides are proved to be lethal if their intake
exceed a maximum limit.
Sudden death can occur if we eat food
contaminated with pesticides. Long term intake
of small doses may lead to carcinogenic effect.

Pesticide also effect reproductive disorders such
as impotency. Studies conducted shows that the
presence of DDT and BHC in human milk .

Infant mortality have also been reported from
areas where high levels of DDT were found in
breast milk.
Pheromones:-

Pheromones are chemicals secreted by female insects to
attract the male.

By using synthetic pheromones,the males of pests can be
attracted ,trapped and killed.

Tobacco caterpillar which is a serious pest can be trapped
using pheromones.