Brazilian soy exported to feed European cattle affects nitrogen recycling
Soybean
Brazil
Published Mar 11, 2023
Original content
The European Union faces a serious environmental crisis with high nitrogen emission rates and the acidification of its ecosystems. Concerns turn to livestock activity, which is responsible for 17% of the bloc's greenhouse gas emissions. Within this scenario, researchers from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science (FMVZ) at USP studied the impacts generated by the increased export of Brazilian soy to feed European livestock and warn of the dangers of overloading the nitrogen cycle in our own territory. Nitrogen is present in 78% of the Earth's atmosphere and is essential for human life and for the nutrition and growth of plants, which need it to develop. In addition, it is a nutrient used by various organisms, being necessary to form proteins, nucleic acids and other components of the cell. The nitrogen cycle, in turn, is the process that ensures the recycling of the element in the environment, allowing it to circulate through the biosphere. However, with the rise in ...
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