Nitrogen fertilizer : agricultural uses, management practices and environmental effects

177 Pages·2014·4.46 MB·English

by  Winslow

AGRICULTURE ISSUES AND POLICIES

N F
ITROGEN ERTILIZER

A U ,
GRICULTURAL SES
M P
ANAGEMENT RACTICES
E E
AND NVIRONMENTAL FFECTS

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A I P
GRICULTURE SSUES AND OLICIES

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AGRICULTURE ISSUES AND POLICIES

N F
ITROGEN ERTILIZER

A U ,
GRICULTURAL SES
M P
ANAGEMENT RACTICES
E E
AND NVIRONMENTAL FFECTS

KARLENE WINSLOW
EDITOR

New York
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Nitrogen fertilizer : agricultural uses, management practices and environmental effects / editor: Karlene
Winslow.
pages cm. -- (Agriculture issues and policies)
Includes index.
ISBN: (cid:28)(cid:26)(cid:27)(cid:16)(cid:20)(cid:16)(cid:25)(cid:22)(cid:22)(cid:21)(cid:20)(cid:16)(cid:25)(cid:19)(cid:22)(cid:16)(cid:26) (eBook)
1. Nitrogen fertilizers. 2. Nitrogen fertilizers--Environmental aspects. I. Winslow, Karlene. II. Series:
Agriculture issues and policies series.
S651.N56 2014
631.8'4--dc23
2014027189

Published by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. † New York
CONTENTS

Preface vii
Chapter 1 Nitrogen Fertilizers and Nitrite-Nitrate
Accumulation in Foodstuffs: A Survey 1
Marco Iammarino and Aurelia Di Taranto
Chapter 2 Production of Granular Urea as Nitrogenous
Fertilizer 31
Ivana M. Cotabarren, Diego E. Bertin,
Sussy Veliz Moraga, Leonardo Mirazú,
Juliana Piña and Verónica Bucalá
Chapter 3 Influence of Application Symbiotic (B. japonicum),
Associative (A. brasilense) and Non Symbiotic
Nitrogen Fixing Bacteria (A. chroococcum)
on the Yield and the Quality of Soybean Grain 113
Suzana Kristek, Andrija Kristek, Željko Kraljičak,
Jurica Jović and Irena Antinac
Chapter 4 Review of Analyses for Nitrogen Supply in Maize
and Winter Wheat - Case of Developing
Countries i.e. Slovenian Experiences 141
Franc Bavec and Martina Bavec
Index 155

PREFACE

Nitrate and nitrite are two ions largely diffused in the environment
because they take part in the nitrogen cycle. Moreover, a great part of
atmospheric nitrogen may be oxidized to nitrite and nitrate by microorganisms
in plants, soil or water. The more stable form of oxidized nitrogen is nitrate
ion, but, through microbial activity, it can be reduced to nitrite ion which is
more chemically reactive. Nitrate and its salts are widely used, especially as
inorganic fertilizers, and for many other purposes such as oxidizing agents,
explosives, in the chemical industry and as food preservatives. This book
discusses the agricultural uses, management practices and environmental
effects of nitrogen fertilizers.
Chapter 1 – Nitrites and nitrates are well known compounds, largely used
as food additives especially for meat curing. A natural occurrence of nitrates in
some foodstuffs may be due to the presence of this compound in the
environment as consequence of the nitrogen cycle; while nitrites may be
present, but at very low concentrations.
Due to toxic effects that nitrites and nitrates may exercise on humans, the
levels of these compounds in foodstuffs are continuously monitored by health
authorities. In the last decade, these controls were intensified because the large
use of nitrogen fertilizers may bring about an increase of the levels of these
substances in several food products.
Vegetables are products characterized by extremely variable levels of
nitrates, accumulated in large amounts especially in the leaves, in relationship
to cultivar, light intensity, temperature, carbon dioxide level, water relation,
soil type and, above all, N-fertilizer application timing.
Other foodstuffs of animal origin, such as fresh meats and dairy products,
may be characterized by not negligible concentrations of nitrates; nitrites may
viii Karlene Winslow
be also present, due to endogenous reduction of nitrates. These amounts are
due to nitrates levels in animal feeds that may reach concentrations up to 1760
mg kg-1 in fresh alfalfa.
Seafood, in particular shellfish, may also accumulate nitrates as
consequence of nitrogen pollution both in groundwater and surface water.
In this chapter the results of several surveys, focused on tracing
quantifiable amounts of nitrites and nitrates in the most important foodstuffs,
such as fresh meats, dairy products, seafood, leafy vegetables and in animal
feeds, are reported.
The results showed that nitrate levels may be very high in leafy
vegetables, where concentrations higher than legal limits were registered.
Concentrations higher than limit of quantification (9.6 mg kg-1) where detected
in some types of fresh meats and of dairy products; while in mussels these
levels may reach 400 mg kg-1. Nitrites are present at low concentrations;
however, high concentrations were detected in some leafy vegetables, up to
197.5 mg kg-1.
In conclusion, the results suggest the introduction of specific limits for
some contaminant/matrix combinations and demonstrate the importance of
official controls.
Chapter 2 – The demand for urea is continuously growing and entwined
with the need for fertilizers and animal feed additives.
Industrially, urea is initially produced in liquid form as a concentrated
solution. Then, it can be converted into particulate material either through
granulation or prilling processes. Since granules have better attributes than
prills, nowadays granulation is the preferred production route. Urea
granulation is a multifaceted process that requires several operation units,
which constitute the granulation circuit, to produce the solid form (granules)
with the desired attributes. The main unit of the circuit is the granulator, where
small urea particles known as seeds are continuously fed and sprayed with a
urea concentrated solution. The seeds grow through deposition of the solution
droplets onto the solids surface, followed by water evaporation and urea
solidification. The granules that leave the size enlargement unit are size
classified into product, oversize and undersize streams. The product is
transported to storage facilities, while the oversize fraction is fed to crushers
for size reduction. The crushed oversize particles are then combined with the
undersize granules and recycled back to the granulator as seeds.
Focusing on urea, the advantages of granules over prills are discussed by
exploring the physical properties of both solid forms. Then, the current
available technologies for urea granulation are presented in a comparative