Denitrification of irrigation water

Denitrification of irrigation water is a new way of caring for the fields as controlling the amount of nutrients in the water will allow us to have a healthier field.

Nitrogen is an essential nutrient for plant life, and its availability is usually scarce. When irrigation water comes from a sewage treatment plant, the amount of nutrients dissolved in the water can become problematic.

Excess nitrogen in water is dangerous for humans, it can cause water pollution (lakes, aquifers or rivers) and the cultivation of some plant species will be very difficult. In fact, the cultivation problem is so serious that many fields are forced to change the greens to more resistant species in order to maintain them.

Nitrogen in gaseous form is a harmless gas that can be released safely.

There are two ways to solve the problem of excess nitrates and nitrites in the field:

• Reduction - Through this pathway, and in anaerobic conditions reactor bacteria convert nitrogenous compounds into nitrogen gas. (Reed et al. 1988; Madigan et al. 1997). 
• Biomass accumulation - Aerobic bacteria grow by exploiting nitrogenous compounds as a source of protein (Bitton 1994; Madigan 1994). et al. 1997). 

Reduction is more efficient as it removes nitrogenous compounds more quickly than the biomass accumulation route. Moreover, the final residue is gas.

It is curious how denitrifying bacteria are the most common in nature.Pseudomonas, Bacillus, Spirillum, Hyphomicrobium, Agrobacterium, Acinetobacter, Propionobacterium, Rhizobium, Cornebacterium, Cytophata, Thiobacillus, y Alcaligenes. (Smith et al. 1994; Bitton 1994). Nature is wise and knows how to solve its problems.