Slow-release Nanofertilizer to Boost Crop Yields

Published on by in Technology

Slow-release Nanofertilizer to Boost Crop Yields

Slow-release mechanism of nanofertilizers releases their active ingredients more precisely to biological demands.

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Nanofertilizers have the potential to revolutionize agriculture and environmental engineering because they can improve crop yields while keeping the water resources safe.

Numerous studies have shown that the use of nanofertilizers boosts nutrients efficiency, decreases soil toxicity, minimize the negative effects on plants due to over-dosage and they need to be applied less frequently compared to regular fertilizers.

More than 3/4 of nutrients from nitrogen fertilizers get washed away without plants even absorbing them.

This influences the economy and pollutes the groundwater.

Researchers have now developed Urea-hydroxyapatite nanohybrids for slow release of nitrogen – nanofertilizers which steadily deliver the nutrients over a week. This enables the plants to intake more nutrients.

Regular slow-release fertilizers are urea coated with water-insoluble sulfur or polymers. However, they are not cheap and it is not proven they boost crop yield.

Therefore, researchers attached nitrogen-laden urea molecules to nanoparticles of hydroxyapatite, a naturally occurring form of calcium phosphate.

Urea-hydroxyapatite releases nitrogen in water over the period of one week. By comparison, pure urea releases nitrogen in a few minutes.

These nanofertilizers were tested on rice crops in Sri Lanka and showed a boost of 10% in yields, although only 50% of urea was delivered compared to conventional fertilizers.

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