Development and Testing of Improved Efficiency Boron-Enriched Diammonium Phosphate Fertilizers
Date
2021
Authors
Samreen, T.
Degryse, F.
Baird, R.
da Silva, R.C.
Zahir, Z.A.
Nazir, M.Z.
Wakeel, A.
Sidra-Tul-Muntaha,
McLaughlin, M.
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Journal article
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Journal of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, 2021; 21(2):1134-1143
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Abstract
The application of boron (B) fertilizers is challenging due to the high solubility of commonly used B compounds, the small requirement by crops, and the narrow range between toxicity and deficiency levels for plants. The application of a B-only fertilizer without a macronutrient carrier is inefficient due to the high cost of double handling and the poor distribution of the micronutrient in the field. An improved efficiency B fertilizer is proposed using a wax- or elemental sulfur (ES)–coated core of granulated colemanite within a pellet composed of diammonium phosphate (DAP). We assessed the dissolution rate, release in soil, and crop uptake in two consecutive crops under simulated leaching conditions.
The fertilizers with the wax- or ES-coated colemanite core showed a much slower release of B compared to DAP pelleted with borax or uncoated colemanite. A soil incubation experiment showed initially elevated extractable B concentrations (> 5 mg kg−1) around the fertilizer with the uncoated B powders. The coated fertilizers showed a more gradual release of B, with 32–38% of the B still in the pellets 8 weeks after application to soil. In plant growth experiments, 24–37% of the added B was lost in leachates for the uncoated products compared to only 1–2% for the coated products which resulted in higher B uptake and higher yield for coated fertilizers. We infer from the results that these novel compound fertilizers released B at a rate slow enough to prevent large leaching losses of B but fast enough to meet plant B demand.
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Copyright 2021 Sociedad Chilena de la Ciencia del Suelo