How can nuclear techniques be the solution to soil pollution and increased productivity?

Pollution in the soil can be invisible to the naked eye, but it can affect our food and water resources and even the air we breathe. One of those hidden contaminants is often fertilizer.

When it comes to fertilizer, balance is critical: with the right amount at the right time, crops can flourish to help feed the world’s growing population, but too much can cripple plants, pollute soil and water, and perpetuate global warming. So how do you strike the right balance?

This question is in sharp focus as the international community marks World Soil Day. This year’s theme calls for raising awareness to #StopSoilPollution from contaminants, such as fertilizer. One of the ways scientists are tackling these threats to the soil is by pinpointing and tracking the atoms in the pollutants, which makes them visible and measurable. As this article explains, they can use these techniques to optimize fertilizer use and find ways to reduce its impact as an agro-contaminant and source of greenhouse gas emissions.

Helping farmers while cutting greenhouse gas emissions

“We need to protect the environment while helping farmers, but to do that, we first need a detailed understanding of how fertilizers interact with soil and crops, and at what point they release greenhouse gases,” said Christoph Müller, a soil and plant expert at the Institute of Plant Ecology, Justus Liebig University Giessen in Germany and at the School of Biology and Environmental Science at University College Dublin. “Nuclear techniques can help us get those details and find sustainable ways to grow more food while minimizing the environmental impact.”

Müller and scientists from nine countries along with experts from the IAEA, in partnership with the FAO, are tracking isotopes to understand the link between fertilizer, crops, soil and greenhouse gas emissions (see Stable isotope techniques). These techniques are also being used as part of a Free-Air CO2 Enrichment (FACE) experiment, which is helping scientists to study how crop quality and fertilizer needs can be affected by the higher levels of CO2 in the atmosphere associated with climate change. The findings of their isotopic studies will be used to develop guidelines to help reduce fertilizer use in agriculture, without compromising crop quality and yield.

Original source: IAEA
Published on 5 December 2018