Investigating the Effect of Chemical Fertilizers on the Environment and Agriculture

There are raft of environmental problems such as air and water pollution that undoubtedly have an impact on human health. Nowadays, by agriculture development of the countries, the large amount of chemical fertilizers is used to increase the harvest quantity and quality and also develop the agricultural industry. In fact, fertilizers are truly useful for soil fertility and agricultural harvests and will help the soil to provide more nutrients for plants to grow. However, using fertilizers in large scale and more than allowable limits will absolutely affect the environment by polluting the soil and penetrating into groundwater. Moreover, some studies have shown that fertilizers can influence air and water quality. Some metals that exist in the composition of fertilizers could react with other elements in the air or groundwater and cause some environmental impacts. In other words, it has been estimated that for the next 30 years, more fertilizer will be used to obtain more products. Excessive use of chemical fertilizers in agriculture, results in a large number of environmental problems because some fertilizers contain heavy metals (e.g. cadmium and chromium) and high concentrations of radionuclides. Hence, a comprehensive viewpoint of management is required to prevent such impacts on the environment and human health worldwide.

Keywords:

Fertilizer , Environment , Air Pollution , Environmental Effects , Water Pollution