Importance of Fertilizers

Serena Cuoghi
Title of Professor of Biology

The evolution of society led to the generation of life models that would allow it to cover its most basic needs, essentially starting with food, for which hunting primitive culture was progressively displaced by the domestication and breeding of animals, just as the gathering of fruits, seeds and roots was displaced by an increasingly extensive and complex. In order to achieve both activities, either jointly or individually in a given area of ​​land and even more so for a long time, it is necessary to ensure the maintenance of the level of nutrients available in the soil, since the requirement of large extensions of pastures and cereals destined to feed animals on farms and plants, which become a source for people, it requires very fertile soils that provide high amounts of nutrients that are easily assimilated by crops, hence the main importance is the fact of being able to maintain the quality of the soils with the adequate supply of the necessary fertilizers, according to the characteristics and specific conditions of each case.

Crop needs

The essential elements for the production of a crop in optimal conditions are: 1) access to the amount of water necessary to irrigate the plants; 2) a sufficient drainage of the soil that allows the balance of the humidity conserved by it; 3) the natural or induced passage of air currents that allows adequate ventilation to control excess humidity of the air, as well as the dispersion of pollen and some nutrients that can be used from their absorption through the leaves; 4) an adequate consistency of the soil that allows the development of the roots for an effective absorption of water and nutrients and the support of the rest of the body of the plants; and of course 5) the sufficient amount of available nutrients, according to the requirements of the cultivated species, with the adequate proportions of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, as well as other microelements and to which we must also add an ideal pH range in the floor.

The development of organic fertilizers from the preparation of compost and the use of the great resource provided by earthworms to obtain of substances that can re-incorporate nutrients into the soil in a natural way is, fortunately, an increasingly accepted practice by farmers, particularly by those who have small crops, who in turn are allowing the verification of the effectiveness of these fertilizers for their implementation also on a large scale, achieving extraordinary advances towards the use of the ecological dynamics between the various species and the other elements of the environment, in order to achieve agricultural practices that can harmonize human needs with the resources that nature itself provides us without continuing to be this harmed.

Effects of misuse of agrochemicals

Professional care on the calculation of the frequency, types and amounts of fertilizers required for the maintenance of each specific crop, has not been a resource. enough to avoid the side effects of its use, since there are always some leaks of these substances to other sectors of the environment, generating negative impacts unwanted, in addition to the alterations of the ecological dynamics as a consequence of the replacement of the natural biodiversity of the area by the species imposed by cultivation human.

One of the most frequent and unfortunate contaminations from the use of fertilizers and other agrochemicals is that produced in water, both in surface bodies of water such as rivers, lakes and lagoons, and can even reach the oceans through its aerial drag, as well as in groundwater by means of the percolation of these substances through the floors.

There are thousands of reports on the consequences that pollution is generating as a result of the excessive, massive and prolonged use of fertilizers and other substances, with profound impacts against the environment and the surrounding communities themselves, affecting health in multiple ways and revealing the latent need to continue progressively with the substitution of chemical fertilizers for organic ones produced with natural elements, together with a greater implementation of biological controls for pests that may affect the crops.

References

Herrera, O. F., Vargas, O. Y., & Marin, C. Q. (2000). Environmental pollution due to the excessive use of nitrogenous fertilizers in tomato cultivation. Scientia gerundensis, 5-12. Magazine.

Laurin, M., Llosá, M. J., Gonzálvez, V., Porcuna, J. L., & CAPA, S. v. (2006). The role of organic farming in reducing the use of fertilizers and chemical phytosanitary products.

Lopresti, M. F., & Torti, M. J. (2021). Use of organic fertilizers (bokashi and supermagro) in extensive agriculture. EEA Parchment, INTA.

Luc, M., & Heffer, P. (2007). Technological development in the use of fertilizers. Agronomic information.