Biofertilizers and Biopesticides

Lecture by:
Dr. Indu Chauhan
Assistant Professor
Department of Biotechnology
Dr. B.R. Ambedkar NIT Jalandhar
 Introduction
• Fertilizers: Compounds that are added to plant tissues or applied to
soils to promote plant growth.
• Two mechanism to enhance plant growth:
– Add additives that provide nutrients
– Enhance the effectiveness of the soil by modifying its water retention and
aeration
• Three main macronutrients:
– Nitrogen (N): leaf growth;
– Phosphorus (P): Development of roots, flowers, seeds, fruit;
– Potassium (K): Strong stem growth, movement of water in plants, promotion of
flowering and fruiting;
• Three secondary macronutrients: calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg),
and sulfur (S).
• Micronutrients: copper (Cu), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), molybde-
num (Mo), zinc (Zn), boron (B)
• Macro-nutrients are present in plant tissue in quantities from
0.15% to 6.0% on a dry matter (DM) (0% moisture) basis.
• Micronutrients consumption: 0.15 to 400 ppm DM, or less than
0.04% DM
• Plants are made up of four main elements: hydrogen (H),
oxygen (O), carbon (C), and nitrogen (N).
• C, H, and O are widely available as carbon dioxide (CO2) and
water (H2O). N in atmospheric form is unavailable to plants
because its inert in nature.
• Nitrogen must be made available in a "fixed" form.
• Bacteria and their host plants (notably legumes) can fix
atmospheric nitrogen (N2) by converting it to ammonia and
provide it to plants
• Artificial nitrogen fixation process i.e. Haber–Bosch process
is also used to fix nitrogen.
 https://www.slideshare.net/maieymuhamad/85-5451262

N2 fixation using bacteria

Haber–Bosch process
The process converts atmospheric nitrogen (N2) to ammonia (NH3) by
a reaction with hydrogen (H2) using a metal catalyst under high
temperatures (300-600 ˚C) and pressures (15–25 MPa) :
 Classification of Fertilizers
• Single nutrient ("straight") fertilizers
– Provide a single nutrient (e.g., K, P, or N)
• Nitrogen-based:
– Ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3)
– calcium ammonium nitrate (Ca(NO3)2•NH4NO3•10H2O)
• Phosphate-based (superphosphates)
– Single superphosphate (SSP) : consists of 14–18% P2O5 and
phosphogypsum CaSO4 · 2 H2O
– Triple superphosphate (TSP): 44-48% of P2O5 and no gypsum
– Double superphosphate: Mixture of SSP and TSP
– More than 90% of a typical superphosphate fertilizer is water-
soluble
• Multinutrient fertilizers
• consist of two or more nutrient components
• Binary (NP, NK, PK) fertilizers
– monoammonium phosphate (MAP)
– diammonium phosphate (DAP)
• NPK fertilizers
– consist of three numbers separated by dashes
– e.g., 10-10-10 or 16-4-8, describing the chemical
content of fertilizers [N(%)-P(%)-K(%)]
 Disadvantages of fertilizers
• Synthetic fertilizers require more fossil fuels to produce
• Water, soil and air pollution
 Water:
– Eutrophication: Cyanobacteria blooms ('algal blooms') can also produce
harmful toxins that can accumulate in the food chain, and can be harmful to
humans

• Soil:
– Nitrogen-containing fertilizers can cause soil acidification
– Phosphate rocks contain high levels of fluoride
– Uranium-238 concentrations can range 1 to 67 pCi/g (picocuries per gram) in
phosphate fertilizers
– High levels of fertilizer may cause the breakdown of the symbiotic relationships
between plant roots and fungi
• Air:
– Greenhouse gases carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous
oxide are produced during the manufacture of nitrogen
fertilizer.
– Stratospheric ozone depletion and global warming
 Biofertilizers
• Enriches nutrient quality of soil by using microorganisms that
establishes symbiotic relationships with plants
• Biofertilizers generate plant nutrients like nitrogen and
phosphorous through their activities in the soil or rhizosphere and
makes them available to the plants on the soil
• Biofertilizers have an ability to mobilize nutritionally important
elements from non usable to usable form.
• These microorganisms require organic matter for their growth and
activity in soil and provide valuable nutrients to the plant
 Mechanism of action of biofertilizers
1) Biofertilizers fix atmospheric nitrogen in the soil and root nodules of
legume crops and makes them available to the plants.
2) They solubilise the insoluble forms of phosphate like tricalcium, iron ,
and almunium phosphates into available forms.
3) They scavenge phosphates from soil layers.
4) They produce hormones and anti‐metabolites which promote root
growth.
5) They decompose organic matter and help in mineralization of soil.
6) When applied to soils or seeds biofertilizers increase the availability
of nutrients and improves the yield by 10% to 20% without adversely
affecting the soil and environment.
 Biopesticides
• Pests: Any plant or animal detrimental to humans or human concerns
including crops, livestock, and forestry by feeding on them.
 Pesticides
•Pesticide: are substances (chemical or biological agent) that
are meant to control pests (including weeds)

•Classification of pesticides by:

1. Target organism

2. chemical structure
(e.g., organic, inorganic, synthetic,
or biological (biopesticide)

3. physical state
e.g. gaseous (fumigant)
 Chemical families of pesticides
• Organochlorines: Vinyl chloride, Chloromethanes,
Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT)
• Organophosphates: parathion, phosmet, diazinon.
• Carbamates: carbamate ester (e.g., ethyl carbamate), and carbamic
acids
• carbamate esters are also known as urethanes
Mode of action of pesticides
Mode of action of pesticides
Mechanism
Disadvantages of Pesticides
Biopesticides
Advantages of biopesticides

Types of biopesticides
 Examples of microbial pesticides
• Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt)

• Agrobacterium radiobacter (Agrocin)

Conclusion