Next-generation enhanced-efficiency fertilizers for sustained food security

Lam, Shu Kee; Wille, Uta; Hu, Hang‐Wei; Caruso, Frank; Mumford, Kathryn A.; Xia, Liang; Pan, Baobao; Malcolm, Bill; Roessner, Ute; Suter, Helen; Stevens, Geoffrey W.; Walker, Cassandra K.; Tang, Caixian; He, Ji‐Zheng; Chen, Deli

doi:10.1038/s43016-022-00542-7

Cited by 52 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 76 publications

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“…The inhibitory activity of these NIs in soils depends on several factors, such as edaphic conditions, climate, and agricultural practices and varies between 4 and 8 weeks. , DMPP is the most promising commercial NI to date; however, its performance is highly variable for reasons not well understood, resulting in unreliable fertilization rates and unwanted nitrogen loss. To reliably increase NUEs in the future and reduce the adverse environmental impact of N fertilization, the development of new, more efficient nitrification inhibitor compounds is required. − …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rapid and Inexpensive Assay for Testing the Efficiency of Potential New Synthetic Nitrification Inhibitors

Yildirim

Walker

Roessner

et al. 2023

ACS Agric. Sci. Technol.

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The microbial conversion of ammonia to nitrite in soils involves three enzymatic steps. Nitrification inhibitors (NIs) are designed to inhibit ammonia monooxygenase (AMO), the enzyme performing the initial oxidation of ammonia to hydroxylamine, to mitigate excessive nitrogen fertilizer losses in agricultural systems. Because the efficiency of the current commercial NIs is highly unreliable, novel, better performing compounds need to be developed. Previously, time-consuming soil incubation studies were required as the first step to test new potential NIs. We present here a simple and cost-efficient colorimetric assay that has been developed for the rapid assessment of the efficiency of new synthetic NIs to identify the most promising compounds for subsequent soil studies. This protocol enables screening of the inhibitor activity of multiple compounds at the same time with high reproducibility and can be manipulated to determine pH and temperature-dependent effects on NIs.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rapid and Inexpensive Assay for Testing the Efficiency of Potential New Synthetic Nitrification Inhibitors

Yildirim

Walker

Roessner

et al. 2023

ACS Agric. Sci. Technol.

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“…Hence, the inhibition of nitrification to reduce the microbial consumption of ammonia results in less NO3 --driven N loss and in a more efficient use of ammonium-based fertilizers (6). Today, hundreds of compounds have been claimed as nitrification inhibitors including multiple heterocyclic compounds (e.g., pyrazoles and pyridines) (7), S-containing compounds (e.g., thiourea), alkynes (8,9), 2-phenyl-4,4,5,5-tetramethylimidazoline-1-oxyl 3-oxide (PTIO) (10), statins (11), etc.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As such, only a handful of nitrification inhibitors are used in agriculture, including nitrapyrin (2-chloro-6-(trichloromethyl)pyridine) and related chlorinated pyridines (14), dicyandiamide (DCD) (15) and 3,4-dimethylpyrazole phosphate (DMPP) (16), which are used to produce enhanced efficiency fertilizers (EEFs). The adoption of such EEFs by farmers will be crucial for sustainable agricultural intensification, but EEFs can still be further optimized (6).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Indeed, there are some drawbacks with the applied nitrification inhibitors, including limited stability, volatility, a highly variable inhibitory efficacy in different soils, or effects on non-target bacteria (6,17). Furthermore, DCD, DMPP and nitrapyrin were all developed prior to the discovery of AOA (18,19) and comammox bacteria (20,21), and few studies looked into the effects of these nitrification inhibitors on AOB, AOA or comammox bacteria specifically.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Drug discovery-based approach identifies improved nitrification inhibitors

Beeckman

Drozdzecki

Knijf

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Nitrogen (N) fertilization is crucial to sustain global food security, but fertilizer N production is energy-demanding and subsequent environmental N losses contribute to biodiversity loss and climate change. To mitigate the environmental impact of N-fertilizers, nitrification inhibitors can be applied to produce so-called enhanced efficiency fertilizers (EEFs), which effectively reduce nitrogen pollution. However, current nitrification inhibitors have limitations and do not target all nitrifying microorganisms. Hence, to identify broad-spectrum nitrification inhibitors, we adopted a drug discovery-based approach and screened 45,400 small molecules on different groups of nitrifying microorganisms. Although a high number of potential nitrification inhibitors were identified, none of them targeted all nitrifier groups. However, co-applying different types of inhibitors resulted in a synergistic effect, both in the reduction of ammonium consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, beyond what is achieved with currently applied nitrification inhibitors. This advocates for combining different types of nitrification inhibitors in EEFs to render agriculture more sustainable.

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“…As Australia possesses one of the highest nitrogen footprints in the world (~47 kg of nitrogen per capita per year), with food production comprising the largest component, 18 it is of great importance to develop new products to reduce the environmental and socioeconomic impacts of fertiliser use. 1 It is well established that intensive and improper use of nitrogen-based fertilisers can lead to numerous undesirable effects including mining of soil nitrogen in low-rainfall cropping areas, 18 nitrate leaching into waterways causing eutrophication, 19 and nitrous oxide and ammonia emissions into the atmosphere, contributing to global warming. 20 With the current cost of developing, producing and deploying enhanced efficiency fertilisers up to 10 times higher than that of commercial fertilisers within the agricultural sector, 5,21 the use of these commercial fertilisers will continue to be widespread and are unlikely to decrease unless next-generation fertilisers are comparably priced and are higher efficiency.…”

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confidence: 99%

Engineering biodegradable coatings for sustainable fertilisers

Islam

Cherepanov²,

Hu³

2023

Microbiol. Aust.

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With the pressures of a changing global climate and ever-growing population, the need for sustainable agricultural practices that increase crop yields while decreasing greenhouse gas emissions are critical. Currently used practices to increase yields can often be problematic due to low nitrogen use efficiency or a potential overreliance on agrichemicals that can alter the community composition of a given ecosystem, although this is typically system and situation dependent. As such, the next generation of enhanced efficiency fertilisers that combine chemical, materials engineering and biological components are likely to be a game changer. Integral to their success is a better understanding of how plant–soil microbiomes interact with the new enhanced efficiency fertilisers, and how we can best tailor the fertilisers to suit different plant–soil combinations. In particular, the biodegradation properties of new fertiliser coatings must be given careful consideration so as to not further burden agricultural soils with microplastics or cause ecotoxicity problems. This perspective proposes novel, interdisciplinary strategies to generate highly efficient, biodegradable fertiliser coatings for use in the agricultural sector.

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Next-generation enhanced-efficiency fertilizers for sustained food security

Cited by 52 publications

References 76 publications

Rapid and Inexpensive Assay for Testing the Efficiency of Potential New Synthetic Nitrification Inhibitors

Rapid and Inexpensive Assay for Testing the Efficiency of Potential New Synthetic Nitrification Inhibitors

Drug discovery-based approach identifies improved nitrification inhibitors

Engineering biodegradable coatings for sustainable fertilisers

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