Fertilizers are chemicals commercially produced in factories and used as plant nutrients. They supply Nitrogen, Phosphorous, Potassium, etc., They are used to ensure good vegetative growth giving rise to healthy plants.
Advantage:
They help in good vegetative growth and produce healthy plants.
Disadvantage :
- Excessive use of fertilizer leads to pollution of water.
- Continuous use of fertilizer lead to decrease in soil fertility because organic matter of the soil cannot be replenished as microorganisms present in soil get harmed due to fertilizer.
Application of fertilizers results in higher yield of crops. At the same time, it increases the cost of farming. As the fertilizers are water soluble chemicals, large part of the fertilizers applied is washed away due to excessive irrigation. They are not fully absorbed by the plants.
This excess fertilizer is washed away into the ponds, lakes, canals and rivers, resulting in the growth of unwanted plants like Water Hyacinth, algae, etc. These plants disturb the water bodies and the flow of water. As a result, fishes and other living organisms do not get sufficient sunlight and oxygen and die.
