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Nitrogen is a fundamental nutrient in agriculture, playing a crucial role in plant growth and development. It is an essential component of proteins, enzymes , chlorophyll , and nucleic acids , all of which are essential for various metabolic processes within plants. [ 2 ]
Nitrogen is a major constituent of several of the most important plant substances. For example, nitrogen compounds comprise 40% to 50% of the dry matter of protoplasm, and it is a constituent of amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. [9] It is also an essential constituent of chlorophyll. [10]
Nitrogen is the most critical element obtained by plants from the soil, to the exception of moist tropical forests where phosphorus is the limiting soil nutrient, [36] and nitrogen deficiency often limits plant growth. [37] Plants can use nitrogen as either the ammonium cation (NH 4 +) or the anion nitrate (NO 3 −).
Nitrogen is the most commonly limiting nutrient in plants. Legumes use nitrogen fixing bacteria, specifically symbiotic rhizobia bacteria, within their root nodules to counter the limitation. Rhizobia bacteria convert nitrogen gas (N 2) to ammonia (NH 3) in a process called nitrogen fixation.
Nitrogen fixed in this way can become available to other plants, and is important in agriculture; for example, farmers may grow a crop rotation of a legume such as beans, followed by a cereal such as wheat, to provide cash crops with a reduced input of nitrogen fertilizer.
Plants that contribute to nitrogen fixation include those of the legume family—Fabaceae— with taxa such as kudzu, clover, soybean, alfalfa, lupin, peanut and rooibos. [45] They contain symbiotic rhizobia bacteria within nodules in their root systems, producing nitrogen compounds that help the plant to grow and compete with other plants. [58]
Schematic of photosynthesis in plants. The carbohydrates produced are stored in or used by the plant. Most plants obtain nutrients through inorganic substances absorbed from the soil or the atmosphere. Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and sulfur are essential nutrients that make up organic material in a plant and allow enzymic processes.
This is especially important when nitrogen fertilizer is not used, as in organic rotation schemes or in some less-industrialized countries. [8] Nitrogen is the most commonly deficient nutrient in many soils around the world and it is the most commonly supplied plant nutrient. The supply of nitrogen through fertilizers has severe environmental ...