Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Impacts Of Fertility On Physiological Stress, Photosynthetic Activity, And Crop Development In Salanova Lettuce, Sarah I. Miller

Master of Science in Environmental Sciences and Management Projects

The agricultural industry is one of the main drivers of soil degradation due to conventional crop production methods and overuse of soil which results in accelerated erosion, loss of soil fertility, acidification, and salinization (Lal, 2015). Loss of soil fertility from degradation can be detrimental to crop production as plants grown under nutrient limited conditions show signs of physiological stress and reduced photosynthetic rates leading to reduced yields (Zangani et al., 2021). Organic crop production and fertilizers are viable alternatives to conventional methods as they improve soil fertility and the physiological and biological properties of soil (Ilahi et al., 2021). …