http://precedings.nature.com/users/30e3dccc67dc1d918247974e4ab646ce/ Documents posted by Siddhartha Sankar Mukhopadhyay Nature Publishing Group en Nature Precedings http://precedings.nature.com/images/header_logo.gif http://precedings.nature.com http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/npre.2009.3763.1 Eutrophication is a threat to quality of surface and ground water bodies (SWB) and to bio-diversity of the aquatic eco-system. One of the causes of P accumulation in SWB is its excess application as a fertilizer on agricultural lands. Phosphorus buffering also contributes to eutrophication and remains a major problem years after the release of P is brought under control. It could be discerned from many experiments conducted world over that addition of small amount of P can remove excess P from soils, provided the solution P is maintained in such a manner that productivity is sustained, and nano-P could possibly play a role in it. In such endeavours, P must be applied to soils in amount exact to the requirement of crop. Of course ecological cautions of use of nano-P must not be ignored. Nanoscience approach can deal with the twin contradictions – between low solubility and excess application by opening new avenues to improve nutrient use efficiency and reduce P build ups in soils and thereby reducing its load in SWB and checking contamination in drinking water. Many P fertilizers contain heavy metals, which can be eliminated by nano-P. The success of zeophonics demonstrates that a system can be made self-supporting, and can supply nutrients to plants for a long time. To comprehend P dynamics, land and SWB system must be treated holistically, and sub-divided into components, each with realistic independent system-variables coupled with the processes, which tie these system variables. In nano-P ventures high resolution imaging not only provides evidence of the changes that occur in various phases, but is also an indispensable tool to understand how P dynamics operate. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/npre.2009.3763.1 Wed, 16 Sep 2009 08:15:14 UTC Eutrophication: Can nanophosphorous control this menace? doi:10.1038/npre.2009.3763.1 2009-09-16 Deepika Bhalla Nature Precedings 2009-09-16T08:15:14Z Presentation Chemistry Ecology Earth & Environment http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ http://precedings.nature.com/documents/3203/version/1 Nano-science coupled with nano-technology has emerged as possible cost-cutting measure to prodigal farming and environmental clean-up operations. It has ushered as a new interdisciplinary field by converging various science disciplines, and is highly relevant to agricultural and food systems. Environmental Protection Agency of USA defined nanotechnology as the understanding and control of matter at dimensions of roughly 1-100 nm, where unique physical properties make novel applications possible. By this definition all soil-clays, many chemicals derived from soil organic matter (SOM), several soil microorganisms fall into this category. Apart from native soil-materials, many new nanotech products are entering into soil system, some of which are used for agricultural production and some others for many other purposes.Nano-science (also nanotechnology) has found applications in controlling release of nitrogen, characterization of soil minerals, studies of weathering of soil minerals and soil development, micro-morphology of soils, nature of soil rhizosphere, nutrient ion transport in soil-plant system, emission of dusts and aerosols from agricultural soil and their nature, zeoponics, and precision water farming. In its stride, nanotechnology converges soil mineralogy with imaging techniques, artificial intelligence, and encompass bio molecules and polymers with microscopic atoms and molecules, and macroscopic properties (thermodynamics) with microscopic properties (kinetics, wave theory, uncertainty principles, etc.), to name a few. Some of the examples include clinoloptolite and other zeolite based substrates, and Fe-, Mn-, and Cu- substituted synthetic hydroxyapatites that have made it possible to grow crops in space stations and at Antarctica. This has eliminated costs of repeated launching of space crafts. A disturbing fact is that the fertilizer use efficiency is 20-50 percent for nitrogen, and 10-25 percent for phosphorus ( http://precedings.nature.com/documents/3203/version/1 Wed, 29 Apr 2009 14:52:09 UTC Nanoscience and Nano-Technology: Cracking Prodigal Farming hdl:10101/npre.2009.3203.1 2009-04-29 Siddhartha S. Mukhopadhyay Nature Precedings 2009-04-29T14:52:09Z Manuscript Chemistry Ecology Earth & Environment http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/