ISSN:
1573-0867
Keywords:
sulfur-coated urea
;
slow-release fertilizers
;
N uptake
;
sandy soils
;
Saudi soils
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition
Notes:
Abstract Nitrogen losses due to leaching, volatilization and denitrification result in low fertilizer efficiency. Slow-release N fertilizers are proposed to minimize these losses, and sulfur-coated urea (SCU) has been examined. A greenhouse study was conducted using two coarse textured: loamy sand and sandy loam soils from Al-Kharj, Saudi Arabia to compare sulfur-coated urea (SCU) with urea, ammonium nitrate (AN) and ammonium sulfate (AS) and to determine the effectiveness of single appliction of SCU over split application of soluble N sources. Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum L.) and sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) were grown as indicator crops. Dry matter yields showed a significant increase with SCU fertilizers over other sources applied single or split, particularly in loamy sand soil. SCU-22 resulted in a consistent increase of dry matter yield and N-uptake compared to SCU-30 and SCU-40. The potential benefit of using SCU in coarse textured soils appers to be promising for increasing N fertilizer efficiency. Producing these slow release N fertilizers seems feasible if a coating step is added to the manufacturing process of urea produced from some fertilizer plants in Saudi Arabia.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF01049186
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