| Improved phosphorus use efficiency in agriculture: A key requirement for its sustainable use. | |
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MedLine Citation:
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PMID: 21349568 Owner: NLM Status: Publisher |
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
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Mineral phosphorus (P) fertilizers processed from fossil reserves have enhanced food production over the past 50years and, hence, the welfare of billions of people. Fertilizer P has, however, not only been used to lift the fertility level of formerly poor soils, but also allowed people to neglect the reuse of P that humans ingest in the form of food and excrete again as faeces and urine and also in other organic wastes. Consequently, P mainly moves in a linear direction from mines to distant locations for crop production, processing and consumption, where a large fraction eventually may become either agronomically inactive due to over-application, unsuitable for recycling due to fixation, contamination or dilution, and harmful as a polluting agent of surface water. This type of P use is not sustainable because fossil phosphate rock reserves are finite. Once the high quality phosphate rock reserves become depleted, too little P will be available for the soils of food-producing regions that still require P supplements to facilitate efficient utilization of resources other than P, including other nutrients. The paper shows that the amounts of P applied in agriculture could be considerably smaller by optimizing land use, improvement of fertilizer recommendations and application techniques, modified livestock diets, and adjustment of livestock densities to available land. Such a concerted set of measures is expected to reduce the use of P in agriculture whilst maintaining crop yields and minimizing the environmental impact of P losses. The paper also argues that compensation of the P exported from farms should eventually be fully based on P recovered from 'wastes', the recycling of which should be stimulated by policy measures. |
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Authors:
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J J Schröder; A L Smit; D Cordell; A Rosemarin |
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Publication Detail:
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Type: JOURNAL ARTICLE Date: 2011-2-22 |
Journal Detail:
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Title: Chemosphere Volume: - ISSN: 1879-1298 ISO Abbreviation: - Publication Date: 2011 Feb |
Date Detail:
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Created Date: 2011-2-25 Completed Date: - Revised Date: - |
Medline Journal Info:
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Nlm Unique ID: 0320657 Medline TA: Chemosphere Country: - |
Other Details:
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Languages: ENG Pagination: - Citation Subset: - |
Copyright Information:
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Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. |
Affiliation:
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Agrosystems Department, Plant Research International, Wageningen University and Research Centre, PO Box 616, 6700 AP Wageningen, The Netherlands. |
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From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine
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