Name: Food Preservation
Uploaded: 2019-07-19
Duration: 6 min 33 s
Description: Food preservation is the process of delaying the spoilage of food by using excess salt, sugar, or low pH so that we can store those food items for longer per...

Question

Describe nitrogen cycle with the help of a schematic diagram.

Accepted Answer

Earth's atmosphere consists of 78% nitrogen. It is present in living organisms in proteins, chlorophyll and vitamins. Plants and animals need nitrogen but cannot use it in gaseous form. A group of bacteria, Rhizobium converts atmospheric nitrogen to nitrates for the plants to use. This process of converting nitrogen into ammonia or nitrate compounds is called nitrogen fixation. Once converted, plants can easily absorb these compounds from their roots and utilize the nitrogen to form proteins.

Animals that feed on plants digest these proteins and the nitrogen enter into their bodies. When plants and animals die, some bacteria and fungi in the soil break down the proteins in their bodies to form ammonia and nitrate compounds. Certain other denitrifying bacteria such as Pseudomonas convert some of these compounds to nitrogen gas which is released back to the atmosphere. As a result, the percentage of nitrogen in the atmosphere remains constant. The nitrogen cycle can be shown in a diagram as follows.

Describe nitrogen cycle with the help of a schematic diagram.

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