Chemical Fertilizer vs. Organic Fertilizers free essay sample

Agriculture is the most primitive occupation of the people which mainly needs land to grow different crops for food and as raw materials for different industries. Industrial use of agriculture for supplying raw materials came much later. Originally land was used for agriculture to supply food for human beings by the use of organic manures particularly animal dung. At the beginning land was used in its natural form to grow food. Land contains natural humus that supplies nutrients for crop. But people began to think that natural fertility of land cannot supply sufficient food crops for human to survive. This belief became concrete when Thomas Robert Malthus wrote in 1798 that population grows at a faster rate than the growth of food by the famous quote, â€Å"food grows at arithmetic progression and population grows at geometric progression. † As we cannot survive without food; so we have to grow more food to feed the fast growing population. To grow more food we have to add plant nutrition and research on plant nutrition began perhaps in 19th century after the publication of Malthusian Theory. In the 19th century a German chemist Justus von Liebig started the modern science of plant nutrition denouncing the vitalist theory of humus. For the first time he argued the importance of ammonia and in later course tried to promote the idea of using inorganic minerals to plant nutrition. Thus the concept of using fertilizer began and different types of inorganic fertilizer are manufactured and in this manner Erling Johnson in 1927 developed an industrial method of producing nitrophosphate. During the 19th century in England fertilizer companies were established and commercial production of inorganic fertilizer began and the debate on uses of organic versus inorganic was also started. In India widespread use of inorganic fertilizer began in 1968 which ushered a Green Revolution by large production of wheat using High Yielding Varieties of Seeds (HYV Seeds) ‘The HYV Seeds was first introduced in India by Dr. Norman Borlaug and the credit for introducing the Green Revolution goes to Dr. M. S. Swaminathan WHAT ARE FERTILIZERS? Fertilizers can be defined as a chemical or natural substance added to soil to increase its fertility. Fertilizers contain nutrients that promote plant growth. Created from numerous ingredients, derived from animals and commercial products, fertilizers are necessary for maximizing a plants health and size. Fertilizers can be composed of organic or inorganic material of natural or synthetic origin that is added to a soil to supply one or more plant nutrients essential to the growth of plants. Manure and compounds contain nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, which are spread on or worked into soil to increase capacity of crop yield. Fertilizers are available in various forms. The most classic form is solid fertilizer found in granulated or powdered forms. The next most common form is liquid fertilizer. It has some advantages like its effectiveness is immediate and its coverage is wide. There are also slow-release fertilizers most notably fertilizer spikes, tabs, etc. which reduce the problem of burning the plants due to excess nitrogen. Recently, organic fertilizer is on high rise as people are resorting to environmental friendly (or green) products. Though organic fertilizers usually contain a lower concentration of nutrients, this lower concentration avoids complication of nitrogen burn harming the plants. Moreover ,organic fertilizers such as compost and worm castings break down slowly into complex organic structures (humus) which constructs the soils structure and moisture- and nutrient-retaining capabilities. CLASSIFICATION OF FERTILIZERS: Fertilizers can be broadly classified into two types: (1)Organic Fertilizers or Chemical Fertilizers (2)Inorganic Fertilizers Chemical Fertilizers: A chemical fertilizer may be as defined as any inorganic material of wholly or partially synthetic origin that is added to the soil to sustain plant growth. Since chemical fertilizers are synthetically derived from inorganic materials , they may have some harmful acids, which stunt the growth of microorganisms found in the soil helpful for plant growth naturally. They’re mostly rich in the three essential nutrients needed for plant growth viz. nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium popularly known as â€Å"NPK†. Some examples of chemical fertilizers are ammonium sulphate , ammonium phosphate, ammonium nitrate, urea, ammonium chloride ,etc. ADVANTAGES OF CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS: Some of the major advantages of using chemical fertilizers are as following: (1)Commercial chemical fertilizers have the advantage of predictability and reliability. (2)Formulations of this type of fertilizers are blended with accuracy and we can buy different blends for different types of plants as per our requirement. (3)Commercial chemical fertilizers contains a balanced distribution of the three main essential nutrients needed for plant growth: nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium. The amount of percentage of the three main ingredients is listed in an order on the fertilizer labels as the N-P-K ratio. 4) In addition to these three basic nutrients some fertilizer formulations may also contain iron, sulfur and cooper. Commercial formulated fertilizers allow us to know exactly which nutrients we’re giving our plants. DISADVANTAGES OF CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS: Some of the major disadvantages of using chemical fertilizers are as following: (1)Cont inuous use of chemical fertilizers led to degradation of soil health as farmers are now forced to use more and more chemical fertilizers to achieve the same production level thus making the cost of cultivation high. (2)Commercial chemical fertilizers are more expensive than natural fertilizers. 3)Some fertilizers may contain ingredients that may have high acid content or toxic substances which may burn our skin or affect adversely to our respiratory system. (4)We also need to mix and measure them accurately. If we use access of the fertilizers than it can kill our plants. (5)Chemical fertilizers escape from soil and pollute groundwater, lakes, rivers, kill bacteria and other microorganisms in the soil making it infertile. ORGANIC FERTILIZERS: Organic fertilizers are fertilizer compounds that contain one or more than one kinds of organic matter. The ingredients may include animal or vegetable matter or a combination of the two. Some naturally occurring organic materials are chicken litter, manure, worm castings, compost, seaweed, guano, bone meal or naturally occurring mineral deposits for e. g. saltpeter can be used to form organic fertilizers. Poultry litter and cattle dung often create environmental and disposal problems, making their use as a constituent of fertilizer. Bones of dead animals can be processed into phosphate-rich bone meal; however, most are simply buried in landfills. Recent studies show that urine can also be improved by converting it to struvite , which already has been experimented by a Dutch firm using human urine. The conversion is performed by adding magnesium to the urine. The economical advantage of using urine as fertilizer is that it contains a large amount of phosphorus which is an important ingredient for plant growth. Leguminous cover crops are also grown to enrich soil as a green manure through nitrogen fixation from the atmosphere; as well as phosphorus (through nutrient mobilization) content of soils. ADVANTAGES OF ORGANIC FERTILIZERS: Some of the major advantages of using organic fertilizers are as following: (1) Organic fertilizers are known to improve biodiversity , soil life and long-term productivity of soil, and may prove a large depository for excess carbon dioxide. (2) Organic nutrients increase the abundance of soil organisms by providing organic matter and micronutrients for organisms such as fungal mycorrhiza , bacteria (which aid plants in absorbing nutrients), and can drastically reduce external inputs of pesticides and chemical fertilizer, at the cost of decreased yield. 3) In nature, decomposition of organic matter creates a natural fertilizer. Applying organic compost or well-aged herbivore manure adds nutrient-rich organic material to the soil, improving quality and texture of the soil. (4) Adding organic material to the soil improves and increases its ability to hold water; reduces erosion from water and wind; increases soil organic matter; improves soil structure and tilth ;decreases compaction and crusting of the soil; and raises soil phosphate. (5) Natural fertilizers are less likely to burn tender, young plants as they are less concentrated in acid and toxic substances than chemical fertilizers. 6)Natural fertilizers are cheap, easily available and easy to handle. DISADVANTAGES OF ORGANIC FERTILIZERS: Some of the major disadvantages of organic fertilizers are as following: (1) The nutrients in organic fertilizers are not equal and unevenly distributed. Moreover organic fertilizers may contain pathogens and other disease causing organisms if not properly composted. (2) Nutrient contents are variable and their release to available forms that the plant can use may not occur at the right plant growth stage. (3) Natural fertilizers are slow in breaking down the nutrients it contains to the growing plants/crops requires. 4) Many natural fertilizers, such as manure, seaweed or fish oil are quite smelly as they release foul odour and are too offensive to use on indoor plants. (5)Gathering natural materials, such as animaldung, grass clippings and leaves, to add to the compost pile is labor-intensive and time-consuming. (6) Organic materials break down at different rates, so the composition and content of organic fertilizer is never consistent. Therefore from the above given Advantages and Disadvantages of chemical as well as organic fertilizers we can draw the following comparisions between the two: ? NPK Ratio: In chemical fertilizer it is 20 to 60% but in organic fertilizer it is about 14%. ?Rate of production: Immediate supply in case of chemical fertilizer and in case of organic fertilizer its release is slow. ?Source: Chemical fertilizers are manufactured from synthetic material but it is reverse in case of organic fertilizers as they are made from materials derived from living things. ?Preparation: Chemical fertilizers are artificially prepared but organic fertilizers are prepared naturally and that is why one can prepare organic fertilizers, themselves or can also buy. Cost: Chemical fertilizers are costly but organic fertilizers are cheap and easily affordable. ?Nutrients: Chemical fertilizers have equal distribution of three essential nutrients: phosphorous, nitrogen, potassium but The nutrients in organic fertilizers are not equal and unevenly distributed. ?Effect on environment: Both has some effect on environment but the larger effect is being created by chemical ferti lizers. CONCLUSION: Population on this earth is increasing day by day but the crop yield is not sufficient. So in order to keep the pace organic fertilizers were insufficient, thus modern techniques of farming were introduced which includes chemical fertilizers. But when people came to know the drawbacks of these chemical fertilizers ,people started making a transition to organic farming. Thus we come to a conclusion that neither of chemical fertilizer nor organic fertilizers are fully/wholly perfect. It is a controversial matter in the society that people are opposing the use of chemical fertilizer and supporting to use organic fertilizers. They say that it is more eco friendly and safer to people sustaining on earth. It may be a misconception to believe that just because a fertilizer is organic, it is automatically safer. Whatever may be the contradiction and controversy of the use of chemical fertilizer over organic fertilizers or vice-versa ,it is the duty of the people of a society , agricultural sectors as well as Governments to implement and invent new fertilizers which coexist the characteristics of both chemical and organic fertilizers and make our surroundings clean and mother earth pollution free.