Do I need to overpay for "organic products"?
'24.06.2017'
Source: Factroom
The chemist, who chose to remain anonymous, shared with Factroom an authoritative opinion on the benefits of the “organic products” so popular with modern people.
A man studying biology and chemistry at school and then at the Technion (the famous Israeli University of Technology - ed.), Said that vegetables and fruits grown "without nitrates" do not exist.
“I will hasten to upset the fans of organic food. Your organic vegetables and fruits from specialty stores are also grown on nitrates. Because the membrane of the plant root allows only certain chemical molecules to pass through. The root does not absorb, sorry, cow shit, and the plant does not feed on it. The root absorbs water from the soil and dissolved nitrates (a source of nitrogen), phosphates (a source of phosphorus) and potassium cations - these chemicals (nitrate, phosphate and potassium) are the main constituent of plant nutrition, and all these substances are inorganic.
Organic substances are called substances containing carbon C in their composition (with a few exceptions), and more often - chains of several carbons. For example, polyethylene (a polymer made up of a long carbon chain) is an organic substance, and water (made up of an oxygen atom and two hydrogen atoms) is an inorganic substance. Therefore, when they offer me organic potatoes in a store, I really want to demand from them inorganic ones, ”the chemist said.
The man noted that it does not matter what fertilizer is used for the soil: ready-made nitrate or manure - the plant feeds on nitrate.
The expert also said that fertilizing seeds with manure adversely affects the fruit that can poison a person.
“Manure in the soil first goes through a stage of mineralization to ammonia molecules, and then, under the influence of certain bacteria, it undergoes nitrification to nitrate. And these nitrate molecules are absorbed by the root. Can nitrates harm the plant? Can! Everyone can get poisoned. The only question is concentration. If the concentration is incorrect, then it is possible to poison both the plant and, as a result, the person.
So maybe the use of manure protects the plant from "overdose"? Not! No way! Moreover, it is much easier to poison the plant with manure than with ready-made chemical fertilizers. And it's not just that various pathogenic microorganisms and viruses are introduced into the soil with manure (manure is a source of infection). In addition, it is very difficult to calculate the required amount of manure in the soil. It will not be possible to do this “by eye”, since the production of nitrate goes into three complex-dependent processes:
1st process - mineralization - obtaining ammonia. The process depends on the composition and level of acidity of the soil, on the amount of rain and temperature (it changes from season to season from year to year, and so on). That is, if last year you received X grams of ammonia on your site out of 100 grams of manure, this does not mean that by adding 100 grams to the same area this year, you will receive the same X grams of ammonia, ”the chemist said and called stages in which further nitrification takes place:
“First, X grams of ammonia obtained in the 1st process should be converted into Y grams of nitrite by the action of bacteria. And then Y grams of nitrite (if there is enough oxygen in the soil, that is, the conditions are aerobic) should be converted into Z grams of nitrate. The problem is nitrite is very toxic. Much, much more toxic than nitrate. And, unfortunately, it is also absorbed by the membrane of root cells. That is, nitrite enters the plant, and through it into our blood. Nitrite poisoning, causes something like anemia (EMNIP). So, fortunately, nitrite in the soil is very unstable and requires specific conditions. But you can still poison them. I'm not even talking about pathogenic microbes and viruses introduced with manure into the soil ”.
“Nitrate is an ion, a combination of one nitrogen atom and three oxygen atoms. He has one formula. There are no "good" nitrates and "bad" ones. Therefore, the usefulness or harmfulness of vegetables depends mainly on the degree of literacy and education of the vegetable grower. That's not what I said. This is how Professor Avi Shaviv of the Technion, a well-known and great specialist in soil chemistry, explained to us, "the expert summed up.
