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AGRO BASED INDUSTRIES AND

POLLUTION CONTROL
CHEM4132
Dr. Saima Aftab Lecture - 01 Importance of chemical
fertilizers

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 Contents
• Fertilizers; Early history
• What are Fertilizer
• Nutrients in fertilizers
• Functions and available form of
nutrients
• Needs for fertilizers
• Essential requirements
• Fertility of the soil
• pH value of the soil
• Fertilizer industry in Pakistan
• Fertilizers; merits
• Fertilizers; demerits
• Uses Precaution;
• To sum up
• Student assignment
 Fertilizers; Early history
Agriculture has been one of the oldest industry known to
man. The use of manure as a fertilizer dates back to the
beginning of agriculture. Since 5000 B.C the Chinese
have been using animal manure in their fields.

Manure
“A manure is an organic material used to fertilize land
and its usually consists of faeces and urine of domestic
livestock.”
 What are Fertilizers

• Substances which are added to the soil to

increase its fertility are called Fertilizers.

• Natural fertilizers: like leaves, cow dung, bone

meal compost etc. are used to make up the
deficiency of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium
in soils. These substance are known as
Artificial Or Chemical Fertilizers.
•The fertilizer which are manufactured to provide
nitrogen, potassium and phosphorous to plants.

•Whether one type of fertilizer is better than another is

not immediately obvious as plants absorb nutrients in a
simple inorganic form and they are indifferent as to
whether they originate from an organic or inorganic
fertilizers.
✓Some of the key features of natural products
are that:
• They are bulky and difficult to handle; farmyard manure (FYM)
and slurry, in particular, has a high water content and low nutrient
content.
• They provide organic matter which aids soil structure.
• They are slow-release fertilizers and contain micro-nutrients.
• They are usually expensive per unit of plant food if delivered off-
farm.
✓ Some of the key features of chemical fertilizers
are that:
• They are highly concentrated and easy to handle but they do
not usually provide any organic matter
• Nutrients are usually released quickly although there are
special ✓slow-release
. formulations. Fertilizers such as urea
and diammonium phosphate do not contain micronutrients.
while, the traditional fertilizers such as single
superphosphate do contain secondary and micro-nutrients.
• Fertilizers can be formulated for specific soil and crop
conditions and specific micro-nutrients can be added as
required.
• They are relatively cheap per unit plant food delivered.

Integrated plant nutrient management is now the key principle

in maintaining all plant nutrients on the farm at a favourable
level; this means that crop and animal residues are recycled on
the farm, leguminous crops are grown to encourage biological
nitrogen fixation and fertilizers are used as a supplement to
replace nutrients exported in the crop after harvest.
Using computer programs, farmers are able to draw up balance
sheets for each field based on soil conditions, previous manuring
and pattern of cropping to determine the application rate for each
field. Norsk Hydro, for example, has developed HydroPlan which
provides advice on fertilizer application rates; to adjust nitrogen
fertilizer application rates during the growing season farmers can
use the Hydro N-tester. A new refinement of N-tester is a sensor
mounted on the front of the tractor which detects changes in crop
colour and adjusts the fertilizer spreader rate automatically. More
recent developments in precision farming techniques use satellite
yield mapping to reflect within-field variations.
 Nutrients in fertilizers
✓ Fertilizer nutrients are usually defined as primary, secondary and
micro-nutrients.
✓ Primary Nutrients:
which are required in a very large amount for the growth of
plants.
Examples: Nitrogen (N), potassium (K) and phosphorus (P).
Quantity required : 5 kg to 200 kg per acre.
✓Micro-nutrients:

which are required in a very small amount for the growth of

plants.

Examples: iron, zinc, copper, manganese, boron and

molybdenum.

✓Quantity required: 6 g to 200 g per acre.

✓Secondary nutrients: are calcium, magnesium, sodium

and sulphur.
✓ It is important to note that a deficiency of any nutrient
will lead to a poor yield so that the distinction between
primary, secondary and micro- only refers to the
amounts taken up by the crop and does not in any way
mean that some are less important than others and can
be ignored; they are all important and each needs to be
balanced one against the other.
✓In many developing countries the need for balanced
fertilizer use is often not fully appreciated by the government
sometimes because the fertilizer industry is under the
Ministry of Chemical Industry rather than within the Ministry
of Agriculture. Also, the wider distribution of natural gas
resources often makes it possible to produce N fertilizers
domestically whereas P and K must often be imported.
 ✓The use of N also has an immediate and very obvious
effect on the crop but this quickly leads to diminishing
returns unless balanced with P and K. This problem is
widespread in Asia and is acute in those countries such as
India, Pakistan and the Philippines where N use is high.
✓In China it is also a major problem but several projects are
underway to improve the domestic supply of P and K. While
secondary and micro-nutrients are equally important, it is
inevitable that the main focus of the fertilizer industry is on N, P
and K.
✓ Nitrogen is always measured in terms of the element N
while phosphorus and potassium are almost always
measured in terms of the oxide so that a typical fertilizer
with the composition 15-15-15 is understood to have 15%
N (nitrogen), 15% P2O5 (phosphate) and 15% K2O
(potash). Equally, 100 kg of the same fertilizer (say, two
standard 50 kg sacks) will contain 15 kg of N, 15 kg of
P2O5 and 15 kg of K2O.
Functions and available form of nutrients
 Needs for fertilizers
After repeated cultivation, a stage is, however, reached when
the soil become less productive, if supply of the above
nutrients is not provided. Thus, in order to make up this
deficiency certain elements in the form of their compounds
have to be added to the soil to make it reproductive. These
substances are known as fertilizers.
Thus fertilizers are those substance which must be
added to the soil in order to remove the deficiency
of essential elements required for plant growth.
 Needs for fertilizers
The need of fertilizing a land is therefore three fold:
a) To supplement what has been eaten up by the plants.
b) To supply them an additional tonic and good food, so
that they may grow more health and produce a better
yield.
c) To maintain the pH of the soil in the vicinity of 7-8
and thereby facilitate optimum growth and health.
 Essential requirements
Every compound containing nitrogen or phosphorus or calcium
etc.; cannot be used as a fertilizer. The chief requisites of a
fertilizer are:

1. The element present in the compound must be easily available

to the plant.

2. The substance must be soluble in water.

3. It should be stable.

4. It should be cheap.
 Essential requirements
1. It should maintain the pH of the soil in the vicinity
of 7 to 8.

2. It should not be a poison for plant.

3. By rain or water, it should be converted into a form,

which the plant can assimilate easily.
 Functioning of fertilizers
✓ is the movement of water in the soil. Lime opens pore of the soil
and enables a free circulation of water.
✓ is the action of CO2 on the material in the soil. CO2 is soluble in
water and forms carbonic acid which has a high solvent power for
the carbonates of Ca and Mg and oxides of Fe and Mn. These
compounds are nearly insoluble in pure water. Hence carbonic acid
helps water to circulate many fertilizing substances in the soil
which are otherwise hardly available.
✓ Soil improvers: The substance which are added to improve soil
texture,
✓ while the substances which are added to the soil primarily to
correct unfavorable conditions, such as acidity or high
concentration of certain salts, are called Soil amendments.
Examples are lime and gypsum.
 Fertility of the soil
✓ Virgin soil: may be regarded as a poison of the soil or land in
which plants have not grown for a long time. Since the
elements present in it have not been used up by the plants as
food, it is always fertile and a good crop may be yielded by
making use of it.
✓Exhausted soil: is an unproductive soil and maybe
regarded as a soil on which crop and after crop, especially of
the same variety have been raised.
✓There are three important factors which affect the
fertility of a soil. These are:
a)The amount of fixed nitrogen,
b) Nitrogen, phosphorus and other mineral salts,
c) pH value of the soil.
 pH value of the soil
✓ pH value of the soil is most important factor in the
fertility, although the latter is also influenced by the
number and type of soil micro organism, the
existence of these microbial flora of the soil
depends upon factors such as temperature, moisture,
aeration, structure and composition of the soil.
✓ The optimum pH value of the soil must lie in the vicinity
of 7 to 8 which means neutral or slightly alkaline
✓ Any soil above pH 10 and below pH 3 may be said to
sterile.
✓ During the cultivation of the soil, calcium, magnesium
and other base forming materials are taken up by the
plants, which results in decrease of pH value. The
increase in the acidity of the soil is corrected by adding a
small amount of the base like, lime, whereby the acid gets
neutralized. If the soil has a pH value of less than 3, no
cultivation is possible.
The ammonium compounds, when applied to the soil, decrease
the pH of the soil in two difference ways.
(a) They undergoes hydrolysis with water of the soil.
(NH4)2SO4 + 2H2O  2NH4OH + H2SO4
NH4NO3 + H2O  NH4OH + HNO3
(b)Through nitrification process actuated by nitrifying
bacteria.
2NH4+ + 4O4 → 2NO3− + 4H+ + 2H2O
✓ Because low pH of the soil is not conductive to plant growth,
the advance acidity effect is compensated by adding lime to
the soil.
✓ Lime not only eliminates effectively the acids (H2SO4, HNO3
etc.) in the soil, but also precipitates the toxic materials
without affecting the structure of the soil. The harmful high
pH effects are removed by treatment with aluminum sulphate,
ammonium phosphate, ammonium sulphate etc., through
graded acidification of the soil by hydrolysis .
Fertilizer industry in Pakistan
✓ Being primarily an agrarian state, Pakistan’s growth is
heavily dependent on the fertilizer industries.
✓ Government of Pakistan is trying its utmost to narrow the
gap between supply and the demand of fertilizers.
✓ In order to keep the production of agricultural
commodities and to compensate for the depletion of
nutrients which get exhausted by repeat cultivation, the
urea fertilizer has gained importance. For a developing
country like Pakistan, there is an ever-growing demand
for urea fertilizer.
✓ At present , there are about 14 fertilizers plants in
private as well as public sectors in the country
which are manufacturing different types of
fertilizers.
 Fertilizers; merits
❖ They are easy to transport, store, and apply.

❖ They are specific in nature.

❖ They are water soluble and can easily dissolve in the
soil.
❖ They have a rapid effect on the crops.
❖ They increase the crop yield and provide enough food
to feed the large population.
❖ They are predictable and reliable.
 Fertilizers; demerits
❖ They are expensive.
❖ The ingredients in the fertilizers are toxic to the skin and
respiratory system.
❖ Excessive use of fertilizers damages the plants and reduces
soil fertility.
❖ Leaching occurs and the fertilizers reach the rivers causing
eutrophication.
❖ Long term use reduces the microbial activity and disturbs the
pH of the soil.
 Uses precautions
✓ Therefore, before adding fertilizer, farmers send a soil
sample to a laboratory for baseline testing. By testing
their soil, farmers know which nutrients-and how
much-to apply to the soil.
✓ If too little is added, crops will not produce as much as
they should. If too much is added, or at the wrong time,
excess nutrient will run off the fields and pollute
streams and ground water.
✓ farmers must be careful to use the right amount, at the
right time, to avoid potential negative effects to the
environment.
 To sum up
✓ Fertilizers are applied to supply nutrients required by
the crop that are taken up from the soil by the previous
crops.

✓ Fertilizer enhance the natural fertility of the soil.

✓ Good fertilizers are soluble in water, not injurious to

plant and have long stability in the soil.
Student Assignments
Find the published manuscript about the uses and importance
Of chemical fertilizers.
Recommended Books:
1. Park., M. The fertilizer industry. Woodhead publishing limited, 2001

2. Pk. Sharam. Industrial chemistry