1.
Agrochemical F.C.
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Agrochemical Football Club is an Kenyan football club based in Muhoroni. They are a member of the top division in Kenyan football and their home stadium is the Furaha Academy Sports Ground. The club is owned by the Agrochemical and Food Company Limited, agrochemicals played in the Nyanza North Provincial League from 1989 to 1997, when it won promotion to the Nationwide League. In 2005 it was promoted to the Kenyan Premier League, at the end of the 2009 season Agrochemical was relegated to the FKL Nationwide League
2.
Chemical substance
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A chemical substance is a form of matter that has constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. It cannot be separated into components by physical methods, i. e. without breaking chemical bonds. Chemical substances can be chemical elements, chemical compounds, ions or alloys, Chemical substances are often called pure to set them apart from mixtures. A common example of a substance is pure water, it has the same properties. Other chemical substances commonly encountered in pure form are diamond, gold, table salt, however, in practice, no substance is entirely pure, and chemical purity is specified according to the intended use of the chemical. Chemical substances exist as solids, liquids, gases, or plasma, Chemical substances may be combined or converted to others by means of chemical reactions. Forms of energy, such as light and heat, are not matter, a chemical substance may well be defined as any material with a definite chemical composition in an introductory general chemistry textbook. According to this definition a chemical substance can either be a chemical element or a pure chemical compound. But, there are exceptions to this definition, a substance can also be defined as a form of matter that has both definite composition and distinct properties. The chemical substance index published by CAS also includes several alloys of uncertain composition, in geology, substances of uniform composition are called minerals, while physical mixtures of several minerals are defined as rocks. Many minerals, however, mutually dissolve into solid solutions, such that a rock is a uniform substance despite being a mixture in stoichiometric terms. Feldspars are an example, anorthoclase is an alkali aluminium silicate. In law, chemical substances may include both pure substances and mixtures with a composition or manufacturing process. For example, the EU regulation REACH defines monoconstituent substances, multiconstituent substances and substances of unknown or variable composition, the latter two consist of multiple chemical substances, however, their identity can be established either by direct chemical analysis or reference to a single manufacturing process. For example, charcoal is a complex, partially polymeric mixture that can be defined by its manufacturing process. Therefore, although the chemical identity is unknown, identification can be made to a sufficient accuracy. The CAS index also includes mixtures, polymers almost always appear as mixtures of molecules of multiple molar masses, each of which could be considered a separate chemical substance. However, the polymer may be defined by a precursor or reaction
3.
Agriculture
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Agriculture is the cultivation and breeding of animals, plants and fungi for food, fiber, biofuel, medicinal plants and other products used to sustain and enhance human life. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of human civilization. The study of agriculture is known as agricultural science, the history of agriculture dates back thousands of years, and its development has been driven and defined by greatly different climates, cultures, and technologies. Industrial agriculture based on large-scale monoculture farming has become the dominant agricultural methodology, genetically modified organisms are an increasing component of agriculture, although they are banned in several countries. Agricultural food production and water management are increasingly becoming global issues that are fostering debate on a number of fronts, the major agricultural products can be broadly grouped into foods, fibers, fuels, and raw materials. Specific foods include cereals, vegetables, fruits, oils, meats, fibers include cotton, wool, hemp, silk and flax. Raw materials include lumber and bamboo, other useful materials are also produced by plants, such as resins, dyes, drugs, perfumes, biofuels and ornamental products such as cut flowers and nursery plants. The word agriculture is a late Middle English adaptation of Latin agricultūra, from ager, field, Agriculture usually refers to human activities, although it is also observed in certain species of ant, termite and ambrosia beetle. To practice agriculture means to use resources to produce commodities which maintain life, including food, fiber, forest products, horticultural crops. This definition includes arable farming or agronomy, and horticulture, all terms for the growing of plants, even then, it is acknowledged that there is a large amount of knowledge transfer and overlap between silviculture and agriculture. In traditional farming, the two are often combined even on small landholdings, leading to the term agroforestry, Agriculture began independently in different parts of the globe, and included a diverse range of taxa. At least 11 separate regions of the Old and New World were involved as independent centers of origin, wild grains were collected and eaten from at least 105,000 years ago. Pigs were domesticated in Mesopotamia around 15,000 years ago, rice was domesticated in China between 13,500 and 8,200 years ago, followed by mung, soy and azuki beans. Sheep were domesticated in Mesopotamia between 13,000 and 11,000 years ago. From around 11,500 years ago, the eight Neolithic founder crops, emmer and einkorn wheat, hulled barley, peas, lentils, bitter vetch, chick peas and flax were cultivated in the Levant. Cattle were domesticated from the aurochs in the areas of modern Turkey. In the Andes of South America, the potato was domesticated between 10,000 and 7,000 years ago, along with beans, coca, llamas, alpacas, sugarcane and some root vegetables were domesticated in New Guinea around 9,000 years ago. Sorghum was domesticated in the Sahel region of Africa by 7,000 years ago, cotton was domesticated in Peru by 5,600 years ago, and was independently domesticated in Eurasia at an unknown time
4.
Pesticide
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Pesticides are substances that are meant to control pests or weeds. The most common of these are herbicides which account for approximately 80% of all pesticide use, most pesticides are intended to serve as plant protection products, which in general, protect plants from weeds, fungi, or insects. In general, a pesticide is a chemical or biological agent that deters, incapacitates, kills, or otherwise discourages pests. Target pests can include insects, plant pathogens, weeds, mollusks, birds, mammals, fish, nematodes, although pesticides have benefits, some also have drawbacks, such as potential toxicity to humans and other species. According to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants,9 of the 12 most dangerous, the term includes substances intended for use as a plant growth regulator, defoliant, desiccant, or agent for thinning fruit or preventing the premature fall of fruit. Also used as substances applied to either before or after harvest to protect the commodity from deterioration during storage. Pesticides can be classified by target organism, chemical structure, biopesticides include microbial pesticides and biochemical pesticides. Plant-derived pesticides, or botanicals, have been developing quickly and these include the pyrethroids, rotenoids, nicotinoids, and a fourth group that includes strychnine and scilliroside. Many pesticides can be grouped into chemical families, prominent insecticide families include organochlorines, organophosphates, and carbamates. Organochlorine hydrocarbons could be separated into dichlorodiphenylethanes, cyclodiene compounds, and they operate by disrupting the sodium/potassium balance of the nerve fiber, forcing the nerve to transmit continuously. Their toxicities vary greatly, but they have phased out because of their persistence. Organophosphate and carbamates largely replaced organochlorines, both operate through inhibiting the enzyme acetylcholinesterase, allowing acetylcholine to transfer nerve impulses indefinitely and causing a variety of symptoms such as weakness or paralysis. Organophosphates are quite toxic to vertebrates, and have in some cases replaced by less toxic carbamates. Thiocarbamate and dithiocarbamates are subclasses of carbamates, prominent families of herbicides include phenoxy and benzoic acid herbicides, triazines, ureas, and Chloroacetanilides. Phenoxy compounds tend to selectively kill broad-leaf weeds rather than grasses, the phenoxy and benzoic acid herbicides function similar to plant growth hormones, and grow cells without normal cell division, crushing the plants nutrient transport system. Many commonly used pesticides are not included in these families, including glyphosate, Pesticides can be classified based upon their biological mechanism function or application method. Most pesticides work by poisoning pests, a systemic pesticide moves inside a plant following absorption by the plant. With insecticides and most fungicides, this movement is usually upward and outward, increased efficiency may be a result
5.
Insecticide
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An insecticide is a substance used to kill insects. They include ovicides and larvicides used against insect eggs and larvae, Insecticides are used in agriculture, medicine, industry and by consumers. Insecticides are claimed to be a factor behind the increase in agricultural 20th centurys productivity. Nearly all insecticides have the potential to significantly alter ecosystems, many are toxic to humans, Insecticides can be classified in two major groups, systemic insecticides, which have residual or long term activity, and contact insecticides, which have no residual activity. Furthermore, one can distinguish three types of insecticide, natural insecticides, such as nicotine, pyrethrum and neem extracts, made by plants as defenses against insects. Organic insecticides, which are chemical compounds, mostly working by contact. The mode of action describes how the pesticide kills or inactivates a pest and it provides another way of classifying insecticides. Mode of action is important in understanding whether an insecticide will be toxic to unrelated species, such as fish, birds, Insecticides are distinct from insect repellents, which do not kill. Systemic insecticides become incorporated and distributed throughout the whole plant. When insects feed on the plant, they ingest the insecticide, systemic insecticides produced by transgenic plants are called plant-incorporated protectants. For instance, a gene that codes for a specific Bacillus thuringiensis biocidal protein was introduced into corn, the plant manufactures the protein, which kills the insect when consumed. Contact insecticides are toxic to insects upon direct contact and these can be inorganic insecticides, which are metals and include arsenates, copper and fluorine compounds, which are less commonly used, and the commonly used sulfur. Contact insecticides can be organic insecticides, i. e. organic chemical compounds, synthetically produced, or they can be natural compounds like pyrethrum, neem oil etc. Contact insecticides usually have no residual activity, efficacy can be related to the quality of pesticide application, with small droplets, such as aerosols often improving performance. Many organic compounds are produced by plants for the purpose of defending the host plant from predation, a trivial case is tree rosin, which is a natural insecticide. Specific, the production of oleoresin by conifer species is a component of the response against insect attack. Many fragrances, e. g. oil of wintergreen, are in fact antifeedants, the technique has been expanded to include the use of RNA interference RNAi that fatally silences crucial insect genes. RNAi likely evolved as a defense against viruses, midgut cells in many larvae take up the molecules and help spread the signal
6.
Herbicide
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Herbicide, also commonly known as weedkillers, are chemical substances used to control unwanted plants. Apart from selective/non-selective, other important distinctions include persistence, means of uptake, Herbicides have also been used in warfare and conflict. Modern herbicides are often mimics of natural plant hormones which interfere with growth of the target plants. The term organic herbicide has come to mean herbicides intended for organic farming, due to herbicide resistance - a major concern in agriculture - a number of products also combine herbicides with different means of action. In the US in 2007, about 83% of all herbicide usage, in 2007, world pesticide expenditures totaled about $39.4 billion, herbicides were about 40% of those sales and constituted the biggest portion, followed by insecticides, fungicides, and other types. Smaller quantities are used in forestry, pasture systems, and management of areas set aside as wildlife habitat, prior to the widespread use of chemical herbicides, cultural controls, such as altering soil pH, salinity, or fertility levels, were used to control weeds. Mechanical control was used to control weeds. The first modern herbicide,2, 4-D, was first discovered and synthesized by W. G. Templeman at Imperial Chemical Industries, in 1940, he showed that Growth substances applied appropriately would kill certain broad-leaved weeds in cereals without harming the crops. By 1941, his team succeeded in synthesizing the chemical, in the same year, Pokorny in the US achieved this as well. Independently, a team under Juda Hirsch Quastel, working at the Rothamsted Experimental Station made the same discovery, Quastel was tasked by the Agricultural Research Council to discover methods for improving crop yield. By analyzing soil as a system, rather than an inert substance. Quastel was able to quantify the influence of plant hormones, inhibitors and other chemicals on the activity of microorganisms in the soil. While the full work of the unit remained secret, certain discoveries were developed for use after the war, including the 2. When it was released in 1946, it triggered a worldwide revolution in agricultural output. It allowed for greatly enhanced weed control in wheat, maize, rice, and similar cereal crops, because it kills dicots. The low cost of 2, 4-D has led to continued usage today, like other acid herbicides, current formulations use either an amine salt or one of many esters of the parent compound. These are easier to handle than the acid, atrazine does not break down readily after being applied to soils of above neutral pH. Under alkaline soil conditions, atrazine may be carried into the profile as far as the water table by soil water following rainfall causing the aforementioned contamination
7.
Fertilizer
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A fertilizer or fertiliser is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soils or to plant tissues to supply one or more plant nutrients essential to the growth of plants. Fertilizers enhance the growth of plants and this goal is met in two ways, the traditional one being additives that provide nutrients. The second mode by which some fertilizers act is to enhance the effectiveness of the soil by modifying its water retention and aeration and this article, like many on fertilizers, emphasises the nutritional aspect. The nutrients required for plant life are classified according to the elements. Instead compounds containing these elements are the basis of fertilizers, the macronutrients are consumed in larger quantities and are present in plant tissue in quantities from 0. 15% to 6. 0% on a dry matter basis. Plants are made up of four elements, hydrogen, oxygen, carbon. Carbon, hydrogen and oxygen are widely available as water and carbon dioxide, although nitrogen makes up most of the atmosphere, it is in a form that is unavailable to plants. Nitrogen is the most important fertilizer since nitrogen is present in proteins, DNA, to be nutritious to plants, nitrogen must be made available in a fixed form. Only some bacteria and their host plants can fix atmospheric nitrogen by converting it to ammonia, phosphate is required for the production of DNA and ATP, the main energy carrier in cells, as well as certain lipids. Micronutrients are consumed in quantities and are present in plant tissue on the order of parts-per-million, ranging from 0.15 to 400 ppm DM. These elements are present at the active sites of enzymes that carry out the plants metabolism. Because these elements enable catalysts their impact far exceeds their weight percentage, Fertilizers are classified in several ways. They are classified according to whether they provide a single nutrient, multinutrient fertilizers provide two or more nutrients, for example N and P. Fertilizers are also sometimes classified as inorganic versus organic. Inorganic fertilizers exclude carbon-containing materials except ureas, organic fertilizers are usually plant- or animal-derived matter. Inorganic are sometimes called synthetic fertilizers since various chemical treatments are required for their manufacture, the main nitrogen-based straight fertilizer is ammonia or its solutions. Ammonium nitrate is widely used. Urea is another source of nitrogen, having the advantage that it is solid and non-explosive, unlike ammonia and ammonium nitrate. A few percent of the fertilizer market has been met by calcium ammonium nitrate
