Materials for Sustained and Controlled Release of Nutrients and Molecules To Support Plant Growth

Abstract

Controlled release fertilizers (CRFs) are a branch of materials that are designed to improve the soil release kinetics of chemical fertilizers to address problems stemming losses from runoff or other factors. Current CRFs are used but only in a limited market due to relatively high costs and doubts about their abilities to result in higher yields and increased profitability for agricultural businesses. New technologies are emerging that promise to improve the efficacy of CRFs to add additional functionality and reduce cost to make CRFs a more viable alternative to traditional chemical fertilizer treatment. CRFs that offer ways of reducing air and water pollution from fertilizer treatments, improving the ability of plants to access required nutrients, improving water retention to increase drought resistance, and reducing the amount of fertilizer needed to provide maximum crop yields are under development. A wide variety of different strategies are being considered to tackle this problem, and each approach offers different advantages and drawbacks. Agricultural industries will soon be forced to move toward more efficient and sustainable practices to respond to increasing fertilizer cost and desire for sustainable growing practices. CRFs have the potential to solve many problems in agriculture and help enable this shift while maintaining profitability.

Ammonia and carbon dioxide emissions by stabilized conventional nitrogen fertilizers and controlled release in corn crop

“…The mechanism of nutrient release of urea coated with S 0 has been the subject of several studies (Li et al, 2008;Wu;Liu, 2008;Trenkel, 2010;Davidson;Gu, 2012;Timilsena et al, 2014). However, it is now accepted the theory that coated urea allows the release of N in the amide form through the pores and cracks that appear in the S 0 layer after contact with water (Azeem et al, 2014).…”

Photodegradation of Polymer Materials Used for Film Coatings of Controlled‐Release Fertilizers

“…The use of controlled-release fertilizers can increase their efficiency. Synthetic polymers have been employed as coating materials in various processes for the production of controlled-release fertilizers: (1) a polymer is dissolved in organic solvent and taken as the coating material [1][2][3]; (2) the coating material consists of multiple components that form polymer films with different thermosettings, such as a polyurethane (PU) film and an alkyd resin film [4][5][6]; and (3) polymer latex with water as the continuous phase is applied as a coating material by spraying the latex onto the surfaces of fertilizer particles to coat them with films after dehydration. This process is free of organic solvents and is considered promising as a green approach to producing controlled-release fertilizers [7][8][9].…”

Effect of fertilizers with different chemical composition on crop yield, nitrogen uptake and leaching in a sandy loam Luvisol

“…In order to reduce the losses of nitrogen leaching from fertilizers, a variety of techniques that reduce the fertilizer solubility and increase the uptake by plants are being developed. For this purpose fertilizer granules are enriched with bioactive substances, nitrification inhibitors or other materials reducing the solubility of pellets in the soil; novel nanofertilizer technologies are being developed (Davidson, Gu, 2012;Liu, Lal, 2015).…”