Nitrogen Management in Soil and Water for Our Future Earth

Abstract

Although nitrogen (N) is an essential element for plants, it is one of the main contributor to eutrophication in closed water bodies such as lakes and inland sea. Beside, nitrous oxide gas (N2O) derived from fertilizer and manure is one of the greenhouse gases. Humans can take in just 14% of fertilizer-N as protein for vegetation diets and 4% for carnivorous ones. Other remaining N is lost by N leaching or denitrification (N2 and N2O), or may be stored in soil as organic N. We emphasized excess application of manure compost caused N contamination of water by using natural abundances of 15N. Nitrous oxide emissions can be reduced by controlling pH and decomposability of organic matter. Organic waste management should be well studied to establish sustainable agricultural systems in the future.