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Biodigester effluent fertilizer quality (IRRI)
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==== 1.Nitrogen (N) ==== * is found in chlorophyll and protoplasm in plants and is an important component in proteins.<br> * '''Excess''' nitrogen shows as lush soft growth and can result in a significant yield loss through weakened stem and flattening of crop by wind and rain, failure to ripen, and increased susceptibility to pests and diseases.<ref>Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, FAO. Wastewater quality guidelines for agricultural use. http://www.fao.org/docrep/t0551e/t0551e04.htm#2.3 effluent quality guidelines for health protection</ref> * '''Deficiency''' shows as a shortening of stems and yellowing of leaves.<br> * Plants that are high nitrogen feeders include: squash, cabbage, broccoli and corn. * Most nitrogen in the world exists in our atmosphere as N2, which is not available to most plants for use, thus it is important to find and measure the amount of bioavailable nitrogen.<ref>Thomas Marler, Frank Cruz and James McConnell. Essential Plant Nutrients. College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, University of Guam</ref><br> ===== Bioavailable Nitrogen ===== {| class="wikitable" | Nitrate, NO3- | |- | Ammonium, NH4+ | |} ====== Nitrate, NO3- ====== * Nitrates are an important nutrient for plants. Crops such as tobacco, potatoes and tomatoes prefer nitrate as their source of Nitrogen. Nitrates are transformed from nitrites, NO2-, by nitrifying bacteria and Ammonia can be oxidized into nitrates or nitrites.<ref>E. I. UWAH*, J. ABAH, N. P. NDAHI and V. O. OGUGBUAJA. CONCENTRATION LEVELS OF NITRATE AND NITRITE IN SOILS AND SOME LEAFY VEGETABLES OBTAINED IN MAIDUGURI, NIGERIA. Journal of Applied Sciences in Environmental Sanitation. University of Maiduguri. August 2009.</ref> Fertilizers in nitrate form are susceptible to potential leaching and losses through gaseous emissions during dentrification or nitrification.<ref>M.L. Vitosh, Extension Specialist. N-P-K FERTILIZERS. Michigan State University Agricultural Extension Bulletin. [https://web.archive.org/web/20100612165241/http://www.canr.msu.edu/vanburen/e-896.htm http://web.archive.org/web/20100612165241/http://www.canr.msu.edu/vanburen/e-896.htm].</ref> * In excess (at about 5 milligrams per liter) nitrates in lakes and streams can lead to excessive growth of alga, eutrophication, and thus a loss of dissolved oxygen. Reduced levels of dissolved oxygen can cause fish deaths as well as reduced growth of native plant vegetation.<ref>U.S. Geological Survey. USGS Water Quality Information. http://water.usgs.gov/owq/FAQ.htm</ref> * Animals and humans cannot use inorganic forms of nitrogen and if nitrate does exceed 10 milligrams per liter in drinking water, it can cause interfere with blood-oxygen levels and lead to methemoglobinemia (or blue baby syndrome) in infants and gastric cancer.<ref>U.S. Geological Survey. USGS Water Quality Information. http://water.usgs.gov/owq/FAQ.htm</ref><ref>C Kameswara Rao. Toxicity of Nitrates and Nitrites in Plants. Foundation for Biotechnology Awareness and Education. Bangalore, India. July, 2007.</ref> *Leafy vegetables in particular, under different environmental condition's, can accumulate nitrates to potentially harmful concentrations. These vegetables include Brassicaceae (rocket, radish and mustard), Chenopodiaceae (beetroot, Swiss chard and spinach), Amaranthaceae (Amaranthus), Asteraceae (lettuce) and Apiaceae (celery and parsley). The general limits of nitrates from leafy vegetables and drinking water is 100-170 mg/day of human consumption.<ref>E. I. UWAH*, J. ABAH, N. P. NDAHI and V. O. OGUGBUAJA. CONCENTRATION LEVELS OF NITRATE AND NITRITE IN SOILS AND SOME LEAFY VEGETABLES OBTAINED IN MAIDUGURI, NIGERIA. Journal of Applied Sciences in Environmental Sanitation. University of Maiduguri. August 2009.</ref> * Summary: While reducing nitrate levels is an important factor in measuring effluent being returned to rivers and streams, having higher nitrate levels can be a benefit for fertilizer applications on crops as long as the nitrate levels in the fruits and veggies themselves remain below limits required for human consumption levels. This can mean that nitrate application is better for crops in their seedling and vegetative stage, while application should be reduced during the flowering and fruiting stage. Also their should be a crop specific application of nitrates, where leafy vegetables receive lower rates of nitrate application. ====== Nitrite, NO2 ====== Nitrite is not bio available, but must be converted into nitrate for use by plants. Small concentrations of nitrite can be toxic to plants, but nitrite is an important intermediate in the conversion of ammonium to nitrate in the soil. Nitrite is also formed by dentrification, or the bacterial reduction of nitrate to nitrite, this occurs under anoxic (or oxygen deprived) conditions. Nitrite is not a stable intermediate and very few cases of nitrite accumulation have been reported. The levels of nitrite usually do not exceed 0.25 to 70 ppm within soil. Accumulation however can occur in neutral or alkaline soils, since the conversion from nitrite to nitrate is inhibited more than the conversion of ammonia to nitrite.<ref>O. L. OKE. Nitrite Toxicity to Plants. Nature Vol. 212, 528. Oct. 29,1966.</ref> Also bacteria present in sewage sludge converts nitrates into nitrites.<ref>Mollison, Bill. Permaculture: A Designer's Manual. Tagari, 1988. Pg 576.</ref> ====== Ammonia, NH3 ====== Ammonia is not bio available but must be converted into Ammonium for uptake by plants. This is very volatile and needs to be transformed into other forms of nitrogen like urea for storage. Ammonia is the pungent smell from composts with too much nitrogen and not enough carbon. Ammonia is also the form of nitrogen most commonly converted into synthetic nitrogen compounds, like nitric acid, for industrial fertilizer applications. ====== Ammonium, NH4+ ====== Ammonium is just as available to plants as nitrate, however ammonium usually does not accumulate into the soil because it readily is converted to nitrate in most conditions.<ref>Camberato, Jim and Nielsen, R.L. Soil Sampling for Assessing Plant Available N Following Excessive Rain or Flooding. Purdue University, Agronomy Department. West Lafayette, IN. June 2010. [https://www.agry.purdue.edu/ext/corn/news/timeless/AssessAvailableN.html http://www.agry.purdue.edu/ext/corn/news/timeless/AssessAvailableN.html]</ref> Ammonium is less able to leach from the soil, however it is very volatile and can easily escape in aerobic environments.<ref>Graham Merrington. Agricultural pollution: environmental problems and practical solutions. Taylor & Francis, 2002.</ref> Ammonium can be toxic in high enough concentrations and for this reason plants usually do not readily uptake this as readily as nitrate. ====== Organic nitrogen ====== * This is measured by the '''Total Organic Nitrogen''', which does not account for inorganic forms of nitrogen like (NH4, NO3, NO2) * Urea, (NH2)2CO, urea is an example of organic nitrogen and it is produced in the body principally for nitrogen excretion. Urea contains about 88 percent of the N (nitrogen), up to 67 percent of the P (phosphorus) and up to 71 percent of the K (potassium) present in human excreta.<ref>Drangert, JO. Fighting the Urine Blindness to Provide more Sanitation Options. Water SA. Vol 24, No 2. April, 1998. [https://web.archive.org/web/20141222023233/http://www2.gtz.de:80/Dokumente/oe44/ecosan/en-fighting-urine-blindness-1998.pdf http://web.archive.org/web/20141222023233/http://www2.gtz.de:80/Dokumente/oe44/ecosan/en-fighting-urine-blindness-1998.pdf]</ref> When urea is applied to the soil it reacts with water to form ammonium within 2 to 3 days. If urea is soly applied to the surface of soil some volatilization of the ammonia will occur and this can be fairly drastic in summer months.<ref>M.L. Vitosh, Extension Specialist. N-P-K FERTILIZERS. Michigan State University Agricultural Extension Bulletin. [https://web.archive.org/web/20100612165241/http://www.canr.msu.edu/vanburen/e-896.htm http://web.archive.org/web/20100612165241/http://www.canr.msu.edu/vanburen/e-896.htm].</ref> ====== Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen (TKN) ====== Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen is the sum of organic nitrogen, ammonia (NH3), and ammonium (NH4+). ====== Total Nitrogen ====== Total Nitrogen can be derived by finding total kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN), ammonia, and nitrate-nitrite and adding them together. Total Nitrogen does not include N2, which is not bioavailable.<ref>US Environmental Protection Agency. Total Nitrogen. Tribal Water Protection. http://www.epa.gov/region9/water/tribal/pdf/cwa-reporting/Total-Nitrogen.pdf.</ref>
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