Volatilization of ammonia in tropical soil with different moisture after application of polymer-coated urea

Abstract

Nitrogen fertilizer has a significant participation in the cost of agricultural production. It is less efficient agronomically and requires more studies to find strategies to be absorbed by crop. Polymer-coated urea is an alternative for the production of increased efficiency fertilizers. Validation of this technology should be performed for safe adoption in agriculture. The objectives of this work were to evaluate the nitrogen losses by volatilization of ammonia and the nitrogen contents in the nitric (N-NO3-) and ammoniacal (N-NH4+) forms in the tropical soil after application of urea sources. Three greenhouse experiments with different soil moisture conditions were carried out after application of urea, urea treated with NBPT and urea coated with Policote polymer as treatments. Then volatilization of ammonia, N-NO3- and N-NH4+ contents in the soil was evaluated. The volatilization of ammonia was observed after using Policote-coated urea, which was similar to urea treated with NBPT. However, both of which were lower than that observed under urea application. In dry or very humid soil, the ammonia volatilization rate was low. The reduction of the volatilization of ammonia in the soil with Policote-coated urea was related on the humidity, whereas more effective when the conditions were more propitious to the volatilization of ammonia. The Policote-coated urea increased the content of N-NH4+ in the tropical soil compared to urea. The content of N-NH4+ in the soil was higher than N-NO3- after application of fertilizers due to the low organic matter content.

15N-Fertilizer Recovery in Maize as an Additional Strategy for Understanding Nitrogen Fertilization Management with Blends of Controlled-Release and Conventional Urea

“…In that study, the authors used a CRU with a different pattern of N release (80% of N was released within 120 days after application) [19] compared to our study. Other effects of blends of CRU and U and just CRU (with polymer without S 0 ) on ammonia volatilization, maize yield, and soil N mineral in Chinese conditions can be found in [1,20], and in Brazilian conditions in [43].…”

Nitrogen (15N) use efficiency for fertilization managements of maize and common bean using mixtures of polymer-sulfur coated urea and conventional urea

“…In that study, the authors used a CRU with a different pattern of N release (80% of N was released within 120 days after application)(LI et al, 2020a) compared to our study. Other effects of blends of CRU and U and just CRU (with polymer without S 0 ) on ammonia volatilization, maize yield, and soil N mineral in Chinese conditions can be found in(LI et al, 2020b;KE et al, 2017), and in Brazilian conditions in(MIYAZAWA et al, 2020).…”