subject: A Review on the Impact of Copper Sulphate in Agriculture [print this page] A Review on the Impact of Copper Sulphate in Agriculture
Copper sulphate or bluestone is the common name for what's truly copper sulphate pentahydrate CuSO4 5H2O. It is the foremost common of all copper salts. This versatile substance has several uses but is principally incorporated in agriculture. Copper sulphate is a salt formed from the reaction of sulphuric acid with totally different copper compounds like copper (II) oxide. This reaction as an example is a neutralization reaction between a strong acid and a basic anhydride. The resulting products would be cupric sulphate and water. Remember cupric sulphate is an recent name for copper (II) sulphate. This salt however has an acidic property. It's robust affinity to water molecules that is why it is rarely found as pure whitish copper (II) sulphate crystals. The incorporation of water molecules yields copper (II) sulphate pentahydrate and this occurs as a brilliant blue crystal. That's why alternative names for this substance are blue vitriol or bluestone.
In agriculture, copper sulphate is used as a pesticide and fertilizer. The pesticidal property of the blue substance is due to its ability to kill fungus, weeds, and some parasites. In farming copper sulphate is mixed with lime (common name for various calcium compounds usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide). This powerful mixture is termed the Bordeaux mixture, owing its name thanks to its early discovery and usage in Bordeaux, France. This can be an efficient fungi-killing agent. It protects crops from fungal infestation. Fungus, when uncontrolled, takes toll in farms jeopardizing harvests. Another important copper mixture is the Burgundy mixture. This one is prepared from the mixture of copper sulphate and sodium carbonate (laundry soda). Burgundy mixture has the same pesticidal effects as Bordeaux mixture. The spraying of these mixtures on plants is finished upon detection of fungal spores on plants surface since fungal spores bury beneath plant tissues, and when this happens it's onerous to eradicate them. Hence, proper timing of the appliance of copper fungicides is important. Fungal spores upon exposure to minimal concentrations of copper fungicides die quickly and a good spectrum of fungi species is susceptible to these fungicides. So, copper sulphate and alternative copper substances are widely recognized as effective fungicides in farming.
Copper sulphate is an ionic substance. This suggests that it is readily soluble in water to yield copper and sulphate ions. This property is important in fertilizer industry. Copper sulphate is employed to treat insufficiency of copper within the soil. Copper is a crucial part in plant growth, though it may be toxic in large concentrations. Copper is found in a very variety of proteins and enzymes in plants that activate sure biochemical processes in them. Agricultural studies show that enzymes are necessary to plant growth and reproduction. The formation of seeds and chlorophyll depend upon the presence of copper in plants. Photosynthesis and respiration, two essential processes in plants, are affected by the amount of copper. Lack of copper renders pollen less viable and it's also been related to empty grains. The signs of copper deficiency are manifested in plants through yellowish or bluish discolorations, brown spots, and abnormal leaf shapes. Animals devouring on vegetation that grows in copper deficient soils could well suffer copper deficiency too. Copper is important in protein and enzyme synthesis in animals. It is involved in the production of hemoglobin in animals. Of course, some cases of anemia in animals are believed to be because of copper deficiency. Application of copper sulphate onto copper deficient soils corrects these problems.
In seed nurseries, the incorporation of copper sulphate in the soil medium prevents damping off in seedlings. Damping off is another fungal infection that renders seedling stalks to rot, thus, killing the sprouting seedling. Furthermore, the toxic effects of cupric sulphate to snails that serve as vectors to parasites like liver fluke and Schistosoma have lowered the cases of liver fluke infections and Schistosomiasis in animals. Little amounts of copper sulphate function additives in livestock and poultry feeds.
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