Harmful Effects Of Chemical Fertilizer

Plants require a number of soil nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus and sulfur for their
growth. But, soil nutrient levels can decrease over time when crop plants are harvested, as
nutrients are not returned to the soil. Hence, these essential nutrients needs to be
compensated either through the natural process of decomposition, when plants die and decay,
and the nutrients extracted from the soil return to the soil or by the easy means of adding
fertilizers.

The greatest challenge of today’s agriculture is to feed the growing population and restore
the natural resources. Global food production needs to be doubled by 2020 and just to
maintain the present precipitate food consumption. Uncontrolled population growth in
developing countries accelerated the imbalance between human needs and sustainable use of
land. Though by virtue of chemical fertilizers the production and productivity of crops has
increased, the increased use of pesticides has posed many environmental and health
problems. The chemical fertilizers and pesticides used over a long period of time have
adverse toxic effects on the production potential of the land and the ultimate consumers of
the products. The intent of this paper is to cover some adverse effects of chemicals on health
of the consumers as well, how these affect the future generations by logging high residues of
poisonous chemicals in the soil. It is therefore most necessary to reduce the dependence on
chemical inputs in agriculture. This is possible only through ecofriendly approaches of
farming system. Key words: chemical fertilizers, ecofriendly, pesticides.

Fertilizers are substances used to add nutrients to the soil to promote soil fertility and
increase plant growth. Today fertilizer has become essential to modern agriculture to feed the
growing population. Use of fertilizers, especially, the chemical fertilizers has brought in
blessings on humanity, which helped contain hunger and death in different corners of the
world.
Though chemical fertilizers increase crop production; their overuse has hardened the soil,
decreased fertility, strengthened pesticides, polluted air and water, and released greenhouse
gases, thereby bringing hazards to human health and environment as well. It has already been
proved how chemical fertilizers pose serious challenges to the balanced and sustainable
growth. Accordingly, scientists and researchers are seen arguing in favor of organic fertilizers
as the best solution to avoid soil pollution and many other threats to environment and life
caused by overuse of chemical fertilizers. Since salt content is one of the most critical
characteristics of chemical fertilizers; they are expected to be harmful to agriculture in the
long run as salts are harmful for plants as well as soil. Continuous use of these chemical
fertilizers depletes essential soil nutrients and minerals that are naturally found in fertile soil.
When we use chemical fertilizers; they do not help replenish soil nutrients and its fertility
contrary to the popular belief; but, replenish only nitrogen, potassium and phosphorous. And
we know phosphorous does not dissolve in water and its overuse may cause hardening of
soil. Likewise alkaline fertilizers like sodium-nitrate develop alkalinity in soil reducing its
fertility and making it barren. So to say; soil fertility and vegetation depend much on the
balanced supply of essential nutrients and minerals. As such, overuse of specific nutrients
may cause imbalance in the supply of soil nutrients further resulting in soil degradation and
the loss of equilibrium of a stable soil.

Though chemical fertilizers will help plants grow faster; plants will not be healthy and strong
as plants grown in that manner do not have enough time to mature to develop a good root
growth, strong stems, or nutritious fruits and vegetables. Even they will be less likely to
survive because they will be more susceptible to pests and diseases as they lack good
immune system and enough resistance against these forces. Besides this, chemical fertilizers
can cause root burn or fertilizer burn, as chemical fertilizers do not allow enough water
intake for the plants. As already said; chemical fertilizers are high in nitrogen salts, and when
the nitrogen is absorbed by soil too quickly; it will dehydrate and dry up the plant. Another
important issue of using nitrogen fertilizers is the groundwater contamination. Nitrogen
fertilizers break down into nitrates and travel easily through the soil. Because it is water-
soluble and can remain in groundwater for decades, the addition of more nitrogen over the
years has an accumulative effect.

But, organic fertilizers are not like them; they are slow release which will allow time for
microbial activity to break down the organic materials in the fertilizers. When we talk of
microbial activity; we need to remember that natural microbes; which include beneficial
insects, fungus, and bacteria found in the soil, are very much helpful for healthy soil and
plant growth. Needless to say, use of chemical fertilizers will kill these soil friendly micro-
organisms. In their larger threat to environment, animals and human health; chemical
fertilizers will ultimately end up leaking into our water bodies; ponds, streams, ground water
etc. and contaminate water supply as a result of which humans as well as animals may suffer
numerous short term and long term hazardous chemical effects on their health and body. In
reply to this, organic fertilizers will be the right solution without which gardening and
growing healthy and natural food and crops could be possible. Let's keep our earth safe, for
the present and the future!!!

Indians take about 40 times more pesticides through food items than the average American
intake. Excessive use of chemical fertilizers causes environmental pollution both at the
manufacturing and application sites. When water soluble nitrogen fertilizers are applied to
the soil, a good portion of added nutrients does not become available to the plants, but is lost
to the ground water through leaching or run off. The excess nitrate leached in to rivers or
ponds encourages the growth of organisms and thus a lot of organic matter produced which
on decomposition lead to bad smell, which has an adverse effect on health. Foods grown
with chemical fertilizers caused various deteriorating health hazards in animals as well as
human beings. The following are some of the effects:  Residues of pesticides and herbicides
affect the central nervous system, respiratory and gastro intestinal system of human beings.
Some pesticides can also cause wheezing and nausea by irritating the lungs if large amounts
are inhaled.  Chemical residues also cause depression, insomnia, oral acetomatism,
myoclonus and hyper reflexia of man.  Accumulation of excess nitrogen in plants causes an
infant disease, methaemoglobinemia  Amines produced from the nitrogenous fertilizer
cause cancer in human beings  Aluminum at high levels leads to birth defects, asthama,
alzeimers and bone diseases.  Calcium toxicity results in developmental and neurological
toxicity, growth retardation, cognitive delay, kidney, nervous and immune system damage. 
Cobalt only at high levels leads to lung damage.  Boron causes low sperm count, nose,
throat and eye irritation.

 Manganese is suspected to damage the respiratory reproductive and gastro intestinal

systems.  Lindane can cause breast cancer and acts as nerve poison. It also affects the
reproductive system and is known as carcinogen.  Chloropyripos can cause fetal
malnutrition, pneumonia, muscle paralysis and even death to respiratory failure.  Malathion
can damage nervous system, if it enters the body.  DDT (Dichloro diphenyl trichloro ethane)
a common insecticide, affects the nervous system and could acts s a carcinogen. Women
diagnosed with breast cancer were six to nine times more likely to have the pesticides DDT
or hexa chlorobenzene in their bold streams compared to women who did not have breast
cancer. There is a strong association between breast cancer and exposure to chemical
pesticides.  The excessive application of potassium fertilizers decreased vitamin c and
carotene content in vegetables an excessive application of nitrogenous fertilizers increased
the incidence of pests and diseases in crop plants. 60 percent of all herbicides (weed killers),
90 percent of all fungicides (mold killers) and 30 percent of all insecticides (insect killers)
are potentially cancer causing. It is therefore most necessary to reduce the dependence on
chemical inputs in agriculture. The following remedial measures can be taken up gradually to
fight against these problems.
Remedial measures Eco-friendly approaches for farming system: The following eco-friendly
approaches are as: A. Organic farming: Organic farming is a production system, which
avoids or largely excludes the use of synthetically compounded fertilizers, pesticides, growth
regulators, and livestock feed additives. To the maximum extent feasible, organic farming
system rely upon crop rotations, crop residues, animal manures, lagumes, green manures,
off-farm organic wastes, mechanical cultivation, mineral-bearing rocks, and aspects of
biological pest control to maintain soil productivity and tilth, to supply plant nutrients, and to
control insects, weeds, and other pests. B. Biological farming: Biological farming allows the
use of selected chemical fertilize3rs (avoiding disruptive materials such as anhydrous
ammonia and potassium choloride) and adopts low-inputs approaches to use of herbicides
and insecticides. (diagnostic instruments to monitor plant and soil conditions are frequently
used in biological farming. These include refract meters to monitor sugar content (Brix) in
plant tissue sap; electrical conductivity meters to monitor ERGS (or energy releasedper gram
of soil); ORPS meters (or oxygen reduction potential of soil); and radionics.) C.
Regenerative Agriculture: In regenerative agriculture bunds on nature’s own inherent
capacity to cope with pests, enhance soil fertility, and increase productivity. It implies a
continuing ability to recreate the resources that the system requires. In practice, regenerative
agriculture uses low-input and organic farming systems as a frame work to achieve these
goals. D. Permaculture: Permaculture is the harmonious integration of landscape and people
providing their food, energy, shelter and other material and non- material nedds in a
sustainable way.Permaculture is concerned with designing ecological human habitats and
foodproduction systems, and follows specific guidelines and principles in the design of these
systems. To the extent that permaculture is not a production system, per se, but rather a land
use planning philosophy, it is not limited to a specific method of production. Thus,
practically any site-specific ecological farming system is amenable to permaculture.

Conclusion The small amounts of pesticides that remain in the food supply will cause no
immediate reaction but could cause health problems if routinely consumed over a long
period. An answer to this is the bio fertilizers, an environmentally friendly fertilizer which is
being used in many countries. Hence, there is an urgent need to transfer this technology on
the farmer’s field and in to an industry by producing these fertilizers on large scale.
References Tomkins, P. & Bird,C.2002. Chemicals, plants and man: The organic farming
residue Talukdar, N., Thakuria, D. and Goswami,C. 2003. Organic Farming and Quality of
Organic Food Selvaraj. N., Anitha B. et al.,Organic Horticulture Creating a more sustainable
farming,