Contents
What is a fertilizer?
Types of fertilizers
Environmental and health effects of fertilizers
Today’s farmers, foresters and horticulturists inevitably use fertilizers in order to manage the quality and quantity of their yields. They can be of chemical or organic nature, with a considerable impact on the environment, if they are not used responsibly.
What is a fertilizer?
A fertilizer is an organic or mineral material whose purpose is to provide nutrients to plants, plantations or cereal crops. They make up for deficiencies, accelerate or stimulate growth with the final goal of greatly increasing the quantitative or qualitative yields of these crops.
Fertilizers are fertilizers that improve plants, while soil amendments are fertilizers that focus on the structure of the soil.
Organic fertilizers come mostly from plant waste (green residues, composts…) or animal waste (manure, slurry…). Mineral fertilizers come from the chemical industry and from the exploitation of deposits such as phosphate or potash.
Types of fertilizers
Chemical fertilizers
Fertilizers are the most used on the market, thanks to their high yields and very competitive prices. Most of them are derived from minerals such as potash, nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, iron or sulfur. Their use must be reasoned.
Nitrogenous fertilizers
These simple mineral fertilizers, because they are composed of only one main nutrient, are made by the synthesis of ammonia and many of its derivatives. The action of this fertilizer is to improve plant growth. A nitrogenous fertilizer can also be organic (manure, slurry…).
NPK fertilizers
In most cases, these are mineral fertilizers produced by industry. Whether they are simple or compound fertilizers, they are structured by the chemical elements N (for nitrogen), P (for phosphorus) and K (for potassium).
Phosphorus fertilizers
Simple fertilizer produced thanks to phosphorus deposits (simple or triple superphosphate), it is applied in particular for a good rooting and a good maturation of the products.
Starter fertilizers
It is a fertilizer that is specially designed to be applied to the crop at the time of sowing in order to provide the essential elements to accelerate growth. It is most often localized to optimize its effect. Ideal for cereals.
Potassium fertilizers
This simple fertilizer is based on potash (potassium chloride or potassium sulfate) and its main purpose is to maintain good plant health and increase plant resistance. It accentuates pigmentations.
Environmental and health effects of fertilizers
Mineral fertilizers, much more than organic fertilizers, can be very dangerous for humans in case of strong ingestions (massive or repeated) and very harmful for the environment and its different ecosystems.
If their use is not carried out within a measured framework, their overconsumption brings about radical transformations of the soil, but also a harmful overabundance in the water. Nitrogenous fertilizers pollute groundwater and water tables, and can even be found in human drinks. This is particularly dangerous for infants.
Scientific studies show that between 1950 and today, nitrate levels in water are 50 times higher and that 66% of this increase is linked to agricultural activity.
Another concern related to fertilizers: their spreading also releases strong emissions of nitrogen oxides, to be considered in the greenhouse gases.
The consumption and use of fertilizers is in constant evolution. It is essential that they are applied within a legal, precise and monitored framework.
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