Inorganic Nitrogen and Sulphur Metabolism

Productivity in agriculture, forestry and other ecosystems is basically limited by the availability of nitrogen nutrients like nitrate or ammonia. The success story of modem agriculture is based on abundant availability of industrially fixed nitrogen fertilisers. However, it is a matter of grave concern that such technology may not last long in View of the diminishing reserves of fossil fuel. Therefore, it is important to intensify efforts to exploit the natural or biological nitrogen fixation such that it could function as the main source of nitrogen in agriculture.

In fact, in importance nitrogen nutrition is next only to water in the life of an organism. In nature there are two major processes that control the balance of nitrogen available for plant. The process of denitrification is the major cause of the loss of combined nitrogen to the atmosphere. While biological, a biological (lightening and combustion) and industrial process are involved in transforming atmospheric nitrogen into combined forms like ammonia and oxides of nitrogen which are readily taken by the organisms.