Many of us know Sulphur only as an element or a chemical but very few of us who are into agriculture know that Sulphur is an extremely important micronutrient used in the agriculture industry which has equal importance as other micronutrients like phosphorus, nitrogen and potassium. Sulfur wdg which is dust free sulphur granules has a triple action that acts as a micronutrient, fungicide and miticide thus extremely helpful in agriculture industry. Most of the crops these days are deficient of sulphur due to many environmental reasons hence Wdg sulphur acts as a major micronutrient in these crops.
The deficiency of sulphur in the crops was extremely rare till the early 1990’s but due to more stringent laws from the government and banning of sulphur rich agricultural chemicals slowly and gradually caused the extreme decrease in the availability of sulphur in crops. All thanks to the WDG sulphur, it does not only suffice the core sulphur deficiency but acts as fungicide and miticide for the crops too.
Reasons for deficiency of sulphur in crops
As compared to earlier times, the deficiency of sulphur has gone too frequent in crops these days which is why sulphur has become a vital micronutrient for crops. SOme of the major reasons are
- Sulfur is usually deficient in lightweight soil which has a little or no organic matter
- Areas which receive high levels of rainfalls during winters have usually sulphur deficient soils
- Areas which usually have dried springs are deficient in sulphur richness
- Areas which are cultivated and have low temperatures are sulfur deficient. The major reason behind low temperatures affecting the richness of sulphur is that it reduces the mineralisation of organic matter.
- Areas which are quite far away from the industrial areas are deficient in sulphur too.
- There are certain areas where soils are traditionally deficient in sulphur without the influence of any external factors as they have a low input of organic matter. These are just naturally sulphur deficient soils.
Importance of sulphur
As discussed above, sulphur has become one of the major micronutrients for agriculture crops and beautifully suffices the natural and unnatural sulphur deficiencies in the soil. There are immense benefits of sulphur which is discussed below
- Adequate amount of sulphur helps in the optimum growth and development of crops in the best way
- Sulphur when combined with nitrogen produces vegetable proteins, amino acids, and other important chemicals that are extremely beneficial for crops.
- Sulphur has a property to add quality, flavour and good smell to the crops which seems quite appealing to the end customers.
- Sulphur is responsible for the production of carbohydrates in plants as it is involved majorly in the photosynthesis of plants.
- Sulphur helps in energy metabolism of plants
- Elemental sulphur when given to plants is naturally oxidised to sulphates which can directly be consumed by the plants. The oxidation takes place by the microbiota of soil.
- The application of elemental sulphur helps in eliminating the excess sodium contained in the soil thus balancing the amount of nutrition the crop gets.
- One of the major importance of sulphur in the agricultural crops is that sulphur keeps the crops away from various diseases helping them in growing optimally.
- Since sulphur is a natural source of micronutrients, it never harms the crops in any way but is always helpful in its growth.
- Whenever nitrogen is applied to the crops, adding an adequate amount of sulphur always balances out the nitrogen levels as the excess of oxygen cannot be assimilated by the plants. This keeps the planets away from the nutrition imbalance.