Nitrogen Use Efficient Crops
What Are They?
Nitrogen use efficient crops are plants that are genetically modified to require less nitrogen fertilizer to be used. Nitrogen fertilizer can have harmful effects on the environment, so by genetically modifying crops to do the job the fertilizer does, can prove to be extremely beneficial in protecting the environment. They also have economical benefits as they prevent use of fertilizer which is not only expensive, but may go to waste if it is blown into nearby waterways.
Though not yet commercially available, companies like Arcadia Biosciences are working to make nitrogen use efficient crops a working reality. The potential seen in these crops is very great, and although it may not have the same amount of usage as herbicide tolerant crops for example, they can still be proven to be a source of profit.
Complications
Nitrogen use efficient crops face the complication like salt and flood tolerant crops of being very limited in their use. They only solve one issue that is not as major as others such as herbicides. To top it off, they are not even commercially available, so even if they were incredibly useful, we could not yet make use of them.
Nitrogen Fertilizer (Image Citation 55)
