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Nitrogen forms and pathways within an agricultural production system. Nitrogen is a common element in nature and an essential plant nutrient. Approximately 78% of Earth's atmosphere is nitrogen (N 2). The strong bond between the atoms of N 2 makes this gas quite inert and not directly usable by plants and animals. As nitrogen naturally cycles ...
However, the excessive or inefficient use of nitrogen fertilizers can lead to environmental problems such as nitrogen leaching, runoff, and emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx). [4] Nitrogen leaching occurs when nitrogen compounds, primarily nitrates , move through the soil profile and enter groundwater, potentially contaminating drinking water ...
Since denitrification can remove NO 3 −, reducing its leaching to groundwater, it can be strategically used to treat sewage or animal residues of high nitrogen content. Denitrification can leak N 2 O, which is an ozone-depleting substance and a greenhouse gas that can have a considerable influence on global warming.
Nitrification is important in agricultural systems, where fertilizer is often applied as ammonia. Conversion of this ammonia to nitrate increases nitrogen leaching because nitrate is more water-soluble than ammonia. Nitrification also plays an important role in the removal of nitrogen from municipal wastewater.
Nitrogen is the most critical element obtained by plants from the soil, to the exception of moist tropical forests where phosphorus is the limiting soil nutrient, [36] and nitrogen deficiency often limits plant growth. [37] Plants can use nitrogen as either the ammonium cation (NH 4 +) or the anion nitrate (NO 3 −).
Different management strategies may also be applied to prevent further acidification: using less acidifying fertilizers, considering fertilizer amount and application timing to reduce nitrate-nitrogen leaching, good irrigation management with acid-neutralizing water, and considering the ratio of basic nutrients to nitrogen in harvested crops ...
Following the initial leaching of soluble materials from fresh detritus, exoenzymes depolymerize the detritus substrate producing reactive carbohydrates, phenolics, small peptides, and amino acids, this is a period whereby microbial growth is rapid, with microbes converting substrate nitrogen and exogenous nitrogen into microbial biomass and ...
A saltpetre works or nitrary [1] is a place of production of potassium nitrate or saltpetre used primarily for the manufacture of gunpowder. The saltpeter occurs naturally in certain places like the "Caves of Salnitre" ( Collbató ) known since the Neolithic.