When a traditional fertilizer is chosen in order to promote the growth and vitality of the crops, it is common to observe the amount of nitrogen that the product reports on its label. The more nitrogen it has (as a total weight percentage of the product) the more the product will produce and offer better results in the field. What is often not known is that the total amount of nitrogen is only one of the elements that must be taken into account when choosing the most suitable product for a crop, since a soil degradation and aquifer pollution are a possibility, in addition to the product’s waste itself.
Nitrogen is one of the main components of traditional chemical fertilizers. From a chemical standpoint, its function consists in being part of vital compounds for plants, such as proteins, vitamins, DNA, chlorophyll, hormones, and enzymes. From a biological point of view, nitrogen facilitates obtaining leaves with an intense green color, rapid growth and high vitality plants, as well as greater flowering and fruit production (Taiz & Zeiger, 2010). The greatest amount of nitrogen is found in its gaseous form in the environment, in the air we breathe. For plants to obtain it, it must be absorbed by microorganisms that are present in the soil, which will then be responsible for transforming it into other useful forms such as ammonium salts or nitrates. It is precisely in these forms that nitrogen is found in traditional chemical fertilizers.
However, these types of fertilizers also have negative aspects. First of all, the process by which they are manufactured attempts to mimic the process that occurs in nature, using a large amount of energy (1.2% of all the energy consumed in the world) together with fossil fuel industry derived products (Bicer, Dincer, Vezina, & Raso, 2017). This production form implies a great demand of resources from the planet, and it additionally generates a large amount of pollution for the environment. In addition to this, chemical fertilizers in liquid form must have high concentrations of nitrogen compounds because about 20% is lost due to environment evaporation, another 20% is lost by chemical reactions with compounds in the soil, and 10% is lost by drainage or leaching to underground water sources (Chandini, Kumar, Kumar, & Om, 2019). This means that only half of the nitrogen that is applied to the soil through chemical fertilizers is absorbed by the plants.
Given these inconveniences, Magic Green ® natural biofertilizer, provides nitrogen in the form of amino acids to the plants. Amino acids are small molecules that are present in all living beings and constitute their most useful form of nitrogen. When plants absorb the different nitrogen compounds present in fertilizers, either as ammonium salts, nitrates or urea, they must transform them into amino acids to build all the molecules that were mentioned above (proteins, vitamins, DNA, chlorophyll, hormones, and enzymes), which leads to a cost of energy and raw materials (Taiz & Zeiger, 2010). By supplying the plant directly with amino acids, resources, such as growth or fruit production, that can be redirected to other essential functions are being saved. On the other hand, amino acids do not present the evaporation or leaching problems that other compounds present due to their high solubility and rapid absorption, which avoids waste and increases the efficiency of each application. In addition, the environmental impact is reduced, that is, it contributes to the conservation of water sources and soil.
Due to their three-dimensional structure, amino acids can be presented in 2 configurations, which are called “L” or “R” and can be better understood by making an analogy with the human hands. Both the right and left hands can perform the same functions, such as holding a cup or shaking hands with someone, however, a person cannot use a left glove on the right hand because it would not fit properly (Yurkanis-Bruice, 2008). Likewise, in nature there are some compounds that can only use one version of this type of molecule (only left gloves), as is the case with all the nitrogen compounds that are required by plants. Amino acids produced by chemical methods do not distinguish between these 2 configurations, so they generate a fair mix of both. In contrast, the biotechnological production method of Magic Green® allows it to obtain only the “L” configuration, the left hand of amino acids, which means that 100% of these are useful for the plants.
This is the first entry in a series of publications that will be made on the different advantages that Magic Green’s ® composition and production method confer.
References
Bicer, Y., Dincer, I., Vezina, G., & Raso, F. (2017). Impact Assessment and Environmental Evaluation of Various Ammonia Production Processes. Environmental Management.
Chandini, R., Kumar, R., Kumar, R., & Om, P. (2019). The Impact of Chemical Fertilizers on Our Environment and Ecosystem. En Research Trends in Environmental Sciences (págs. 71-86).
Taiz, L., & Zeiger, E. (2010). Plant Physiology. Sinauer Associates.
Yurkanis-Bruice, P. (2008). Química Orgánica. México: Pearson Educación.