Fertilizers – Importance, Types and Uses

Introduction:

The soil is where mineral nutrients are found. When plants take in water, their roots take in these nutrients.

These nutrients are slowly restored by fertilizers when the crops deplete them from the soil.

What are Fertilizers?

To boost the yield of crops, fertilizers are chemical substances applied to the soil. Each day, farmers utilize these to boost agricultural yields.

The fertilizers include nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus, which are the vital elements needed by the plants.

Additionally to increasing the soil’s fertility, they improve the soil’s ability to retain water.

Explanation:

Soil Fertility:

The capacity of the soil to support plant growth and maximize crop yield is known as soil fertility.

By adding organic and inorganic fertilizers to the soil, this can be improved.

Importance of a Fertilizer:

With so limited resources available, it is extremely difficult to meet the demands of the expanding population.

In the following ways, fertilizers can be crucial to plants:

• The resistance of plants against pests is increased by fertilizers.
• This has decreased their need for insecticides(Chemicals that kill insects that destroy crops) and herbicides(Chemicals that are sprayed to kill undesirable weeds or herbs), leading to healthier crops.
• Diseases have so decreased, giving the crops an aesthetic value.
• Fertilizers deepen plant roots and boost the ability of plants to hold water.
• The plants’ straws and stalks are strengthened by the potassium in the fertilizers.
• The fertilizers’ phosphorus content aids in the quicker growth of roots and the formation of seeds in plants.
• The presence of nitrogen in fertilizers promotes plant growth, which is seen in the green color of the plants.

The Following is a List of Fertilizer Uses:

• They are accustomed to giving the plants more nutrients.
• They are included to increase crop output.
• For lawn regrowth, nitrogen-rich fertilizers are employed.
• The fertility and texture of the soil are both enhanced by organic fertilizers.
• To meet the nutritional needs of the plants, for example, gardeners employ fertilizers.
• To replenish the nutrients lost by potted plants, fertilizer is added.

Even though chemical fertilizers boost agricultural productivity, their excessive usage has harmed both human health and the environment by hardening the soil, reducing fertility, enhancing insecticides, polluting air and water, and releasing greenhouse gases.

Hence, the use of biofertilizers is encouraged.

Biofertilizers were implemented because chemical fertilizers have a negative impact on soil fertility.

Even though chemical fertilizers boost agricultural productivity, their excessive usage has harmed both human health and the environment by hardening the soil, reducing fertility, enhancing insecticides, polluting air and water, and releasing greenhouse gases.

These are compounds that have latent or alive cells, even microscopic creatures.

They give the soil the bacteria and nutrients it needs for the growth of the plants.

They aid in the preservation of the soil’s fertility.

They clean up the environment and eliminate the harmful elements that afflict plants with sickness.

Two such often-used biofertilizers are Acetobacter and Rhizobium.

Types of Fertilizers:

Inorganic Fertilizers: Inorganic fertilizers generated by chemical techniques that contain nutrients for crop growth are known as inorganic fertilizers. They are as follows:

Fertilizers with Nitrogen

• Nitrogen fertilizers have the nitrogen that crops need to grow.
• It is a component of protein and an amino acid in plants.
• Fertilizers containing nitrogen increase the quantity and caliber of agricultural output.

Fertilizer with Phosphorus:

• Phosphorus is the principal nutrient in phosphorus fertilizers.
• The effective phosphorus concentration, fertilization techniques, soil characteristics, and crop strains all affect how successful a fertilizer is.
• The protoplasm of the cell contains phosphorus, which is crucial for cell growth and proliferation.

Potassium Fertilizer:

• One of the 17 basic minerals that plants need for development and reproduction is potassium (K).
• Potassium is categorized as a macronutrient (nutrient required in large quantity) along
• with nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P).
• A set of minerals and salts that contain potassium are referred to as “potash.“
• Numerous potassium fertilizer sources, such as muriate of potash (KCl), sulphate of potash (K₂SO₄), double sulphate of potash and magnesium (K₂SO₄ 2MgSO₄), and nitrate of potash (KNO₃), are used.

Natural Fertilizers/Organic fertilizer

• Fertilizers derived from plants and animals are known as organic fertilizers.
• By adding carbonic molecules necessary for plant growth, it enriches the soil.
• Organic fertilizers boost the amount of organic matter in the soil, encourage microbial reproduction, and alter the physical and chemical composition of the soil.
• It is regarded as one of the essential elements for foods that are green.
• The following items can be used to make organic fertilizers:
• Livestock
• Agricultural Waste
• Sludge from municipal and
• Industrial waste