Nitrogen fertilizers play an essential role in ensuring global food security. However, the applied fertilizer-nitrogen, particularly that exceeding crop demand and soil N retention capacity, can potentially escape into the ...
Ecology
Apr 16, 2024
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1
Most people are aware of earthworms, but probably give them little thought. Some have a notion they are "good for the soil". Others regard them with distaste and think of slimy animals associated with decay. But these alien-looking ...
Plants & Animals
Apr 16, 2024
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1
A new fertilizer recommendation tool, developed nationally in collaboration with the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, could save farmers millions of dollars annually while reducing excess nutrient losses to the environment.
Agriculture
Apr 9, 2024
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After breaking their Ramadan fast outside a mosque in Malaysia, people throw their leftovers into a machine that converts the food scraps into organic fertilizer for crops.
Environment
Apr 8, 2024
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Due to its economic growth and large population, the People's Republic of China is widely viewed as a rising economic and military superpower. But declining fertility rates and increased life expectancies over the last few ...
Social Sciences
Apr 4, 2024
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8
The worm moon has risen. The final full moon of winter in the northern hemisphere appeared on March 25 and owes its name to Native Americans who noted winter's end by the trails of earthworms it illuminated on the newly thawed ...
Astronomy
Mar 27, 2024
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22
Desertification is a significant problem for arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid regions of Earth, whereby grasslands and shrublands become a comparatively barren desert as vegetation disappears over time. This poses an extreme ...
The fertility of both female and male tsetse flies is affected by a single burst of hot weather, researchers at the University of Bristol and Stellenbosch University in South Africa have found.
Plants & Animals
Mar 12, 2024
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38
Microbes are vital to maintaining healthy, fertile soil, which, in turn, is vital to the overall health of ecosystems. But what happens to these microbes when humans cause long-term damage to the environment?
Ecology
Mar 11, 2024
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38
The number of babies born in England and Wales in 2022 fell by 3.1% compared to the previous year. The average age of parents is also at a record high, as people choose to delay having children. The average age of mothers ...
Social Sciences
Feb 13, 2024
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0
Fertilizers are chemical compounds applied to promote plant and fruit growth. Fertilizers are usually applied either through the soil (for uptake by plant roots) or, by foliar feeding (for uptake through leaves).
Fertilizers can be placed into the categories of organic fertilizers (composed of decayed plant/animal matter), or inorganic fertilizers (composed of simple chemicals and minerals). Organic fertilizers are 'naturally' occurring compounds, such as peat, manufactured through natural processes (such as composting), or naturally occurring mineral deposits; inorganic fertilizers are manufactured through chemical processes (such as the Haber process), also using naturally occurring deposits, while chemically altering them (e.g. concentrated triple superphosphate).
Properly applied, organic fertilizers can improve the health and productivity of soil and plants, as they provide different essential nutrients to encourage plant growth. Organic nutrients increase the abundance of soil organisms by providing organic matter and micronutrients for organisms such as fungal mycorrhiza, which aid plants in absorbing nutrients. Chemical fertilizers may have long-term adverse impact on the organisms living in soil[citation needed] and a detrimental long term effect on soil productivity of the soil[citation needed].
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