Fertilizer additives help crops keep more nitrogen in soil
Mushtaq I, Yurgel S, Islam ZU, Katanda Y, Nadeem M
Soil Health
If you've ever wondered why lakes near farmland turn green with algae some summers, this study points to a fix: coated fertilizers that keep more nitrogen in the soil and out of the water.
Farmers lose more than half the nitrogen fertilizer they apply to crops, and that lost nitrogen often ends up as greenhouse gas or water pollution. Researchers tested special fertilizer coatings that slow down the soil bacteria responsible for those losses, and found the coatings worked well in cold northern farm soils. Rotating corn with a bean crop also helped, though that rotation used less fertilizer to begin with so it's hard to say if the crop switch itself or just the lower fertilizer amount deserves the credit.
Key Findings
All three nitrogen stabilizers tested (a urease inhibitor, a nitrification inhibitor, and a dual inhibitor) significantly suppressed the relative abundance of both nitrification and denitrification genes compared to plain urea.
The urease inhibitor and dual inhibitor increased ammonium availability while the nitrification inhibitor delayed the nitrification process, both consistent with reduced ammonia loss.
Corn-faba bean rotation, which received the lowest nitrogen rate, reduced ammonium and nitrate concentrations and four key microbial genes (amoA AOB, amoA AOA, nxr-nitrospira, nirK) compared to continuous corn.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Coating fertilizer with special additives called nitrogen stabilizers can cut nitrogen losses from farm soil and slow down the soil microbes that turn fertilizer into pollution, according to a Canadian field study.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Nitrogen stabilizers and crop rotation affect chemical properties and relative abundance of nitrification and denitrification genes in boreal podzolic soils.
Nitrogen (N) is an essential macronutrient required to enhance plant growth and yield. However, 50-70% of applied N is lost in cropping systems. N stabilizers can reduce these losses by modulating ...
open_in_new Read full abstractAbstract copyright held by the original publisher.
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