How stubble burning affects our environment

Stubble burning is the practice of setting fire to the leftover crop residue after harvest. It is a common practice in many parts of the world, but it has a number of negative impacts on the environment, including:

• Air pollution: Stubble burning releases a large amount of pollutants into the air, including particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10), carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). These pollutants can cause a variety of health problems, including respiratory infections, heart disease, and cancer.
• Soil health: Stubble burning destroys essential soil nutrients, such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. It also kills beneficial soil microorganisms, which can lead to reduced soil fertility and increased erosion.
• Climate change: Stubble burning releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, such as carbon dioxide and methane. These gases contribute to climate change, which can lead to a variety of environmental problems, such as rising sea levels, more extreme weather events, and changes in plant and animal life.

How to reduce stubble burning

There are a number of ways to reduce stubble burning, including:

• Providing financial incentives to farmers: Farmers can be incentivized to adopt more sustainable crop residue management practices by providing them with financial assistance. This could include subsidies for the purchase of equipment or payments for the services they provide to the environment.
• Promoting sustainable crop residue management practices: Governments and other organizations can promote sustainable crop residue management practices through education and awareness campaigns. This could include providing farmers with information on the benefits of sustainable practices and the availability of financial assistance.
• Developing new technologies: New technologies can be developed to help farmers manage crop residue in a more sustainable way. For example, there are machines that can chop up crop residue and incorporate it into the soil, which can help to improve soil fertility and reduce the need to burn the residue.

How microbes can increase yield

Microbes play an important role in plant growth and development. They help to improve soil fertility, break down organic matter, and protect plants from pests and diseases.

Studies have shown that increasing the number of microbes in the soil can lead to increased crop yields. For example, one study found that applying a microbial inoculant to corn crops increased yields by an average of 10%.

There are a number of ways to increase the number of microbes in the soil, including:

• Reducing or avoiding the use of pesticides and herbicides: Pesticides and herbicides can kill beneficial soil microorganisms.
• Cover cropping: Cover crops are plants that are grown to protect and improve the soil. They can help to increase microbial populations in the soil by providing a source of food and habitat.
• Adding compost or manure to the soil: Compost and manure are excellent sources of nutrients for both plants and microbes.
• Using microbial inoculants: Microbial inoculants are products that contain beneficial soil microorganisms. They can be applied to the soil or to the seeds of plants.

By reducing stubble burning and increasing the number of microbes in the soil, farmers can improve soil health, increase crop yields, and reduce their environmental impact.

Dr Murtadha Shukur thank you for your contribution to the discussion

Stubble burning emits toxic pollutants in the atmosphere containing harmful gases like Carbon Monoxide (CO), methane (CH4), carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, volatile organic compounds (VOC). Smoke pollutes the air we breathe. Ash pollutes our soil, groundwater, lakes, rivers and streams. Burning anything in the outdoors can cause a wildfire. Burning only approved materials and following state regulations can minimize the potential for these harmful effects.Mining is an inherently invasive process that can cause damage to a landscape in an area much larger than the mining site itself. The effects of this damage can continue years after a mine has shut down, including the addition to greenhouse gasses, death of flora and fauna, and erosion of land and habitat. Stubble burning is a process of setting on fire the straw stubble, left after the harvesting of grains, like paddy, wheat, etc. It is usually required in areas that use the combined harvesting method which leaves crop residue behind. Burning stubble also adversely affects soil fertility. It destroys the soil's nutrients making it less fertile. This is because the heat generated during the burning kills the bacterial and fungal populations which are crucial for fertile soil. The negative environmental impacts of mining include climate change, deforestation/habitat destruction, pollution, soil erosion, human-wildlife conflict, and the loss of biodiversity. Successive fires destroy the organic matter that makes soil fertile, causing crop yields to decrease over time and increasing the need for costly fertilizers. Smoke and spreading flames also pose a risk to neighbouring communities, buildings, and fields. Agriculture residues are often a valuable resource worth saving. When fossil-fuels are burnt carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, water oxide of nitrogen and sulphur are produced. Products like carbon monoxide, oxide of nitrogen and sulphur are poisonous in high concentration. At the same time excessive production of CO2 causes global warming as it is one of the green house gases. After colonization or association with roots and/or rhizosphere, bacteria can benefit the plant by (i) tolerance toward abiotic stress through action of ACC deaminase; (ii) defense against pathogens by the presence of competitive traits such as siderophore production; (iii) increase of fertility and plant growth. Positive effects of microbes on growth and yield of various crops in different climatic conditions, soil types also under biotic and abiotic stress conditions. Further, these microbes have also been used successfully as bio-control agents for various pathogens in the plants. Communities of soil-dwelling bacteria and fungi are crucial to plants. They help plants take up nutrients and minerals from the dirt and can even extend root systems, providing more access to food and water. They also help plants grow, cope with stress, bolster immune responses and ward off pests and diseases. Microbial activity usually increases with increase in temperature. In temperate climate, almost no degradation is observed in environments at low temperatures that are typical of the winter season. Little or no degradation is also observed at the beginning and at the end of winter season. Microbes improve soil fertility and enhance nutrient absorption and utilization of MPs by decomposing plant residues, increasing organic matter content and promoting nutrient availability.