Influence of Modified Urea Compounds to Improve Nitrogen Use Efficiency under Corn Growth System

Adopting new practices is an imperative need to increase the efficiency of nitrogen use (NUE), especially in selecting appropriate N-fertilizer sources and application doses. Regretfully, conventional urea’s ability to supply nitrogen to soils is quickly lost as a result of volatilization, leaching, and denitrification. Thus, this study’s main aim was to use various modified urea compounds with different doses and investigate their effect on mineral nitrogen release in the soil to improve nitrogen uptake and its use efficiency under the corn growth system. The field trial was conducted in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) by 28 experimental plots. Seven treatments including a control (C), urea (U100 and U200), urea + potassium humate (UPH100 and UPH200), and urea cocrystal (UC100 and UC200) with four replicates were used. The results reported that the treatments significantly (p −1, U200 = 200 kg N ha−1) increased the grain yields by 7.16% and 30.53%, respectively, compared to the control (C), while the urea + potassium humate treatments (UPH100 = 100 kg N ha−1, UPH200 = 200 kg N ha−1) and urea cocrystal treatments (UC100 = 100 kg N ha−1, UC200 = 200 kg N ha−1) provided a 30.51, 50.47, 39.23, and 56.63% increase in grain yields, respectively, compared to the control. The treatments had significant (p ≤ 0.05) effects on the fresh leaves and stems yield and the dry matter, fresh cob, and dry cob yields. Moreover, the use of modified urea as urea + potassium humate and urea cocrystal at high rates of 200 kg N ha−1 showed highly significant (p < 001) effects on the uptake in grain, stems, and total nitrogen uptake by corn compared to the control and urea alone. This study highlighted that modified urea fertilizers such as urea + potassium humate and urea cocrystal were better than conventional urea to improve corn yield productivity and N use efficiency

Influence of Modified Urea Compounds to Improve Nitrogen Use Efficiency under Corn Growth System

Adopting new practices is an imperative need to increase the efficiency of nitrogen use (NUE), especially in selecting appropriate N-fertilizer sources and application doses. Regretfully, conventional urea&rsquo;s ability to supply nitrogen to soils is quickly lost as a result of volatilization, leaching, and denitrification. Thus, this study&rsquo;s main aim was to use various modified urea compounds with different doses and investigate their effect on mineral nitrogen release in the soil to improve nitrogen uptake and its use efficiency under the corn growth system. The field trial was conducted in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) by 28 experimental plots. Seven treatments including a control (C), urea (U100 and U200), urea + potassium humate (UPH100 and UPH200), and urea cocrystal (UC100 and UC200) with four replicates were used. The results reported that the treatments significantly (p &lt; 0.05) affected grain yields. The urea treatments (U100 = 100 kg N ha&minus;1, U200 = 200 kg N ha&minus;1) increased the grain yields by 7.16% and 30.53%, respectively, compared to the control (C), while the urea + potassium humate treatments (UPH100 = 100 kg N ha&minus;1, UPH200 = 200 kg N ha&minus;1) and urea cocrystal treatments (UC100 = 100 kg N ha&minus;1, UC200 = 200 kg N ha&minus;1) provided a 30.51, 50.47, 39.23, and 56.63% increase in grain yields, respectively, compared to the control. The treatments had significant (p &le; 0.05) effects on the fresh leaves and stems yield and the dry matter, fresh cob, and dry cob yields. Moreover, the use of modified urea as urea + potassium humate and urea cocrystal at high rates of 200 kg N ha&minus;1 showed highly significant (p &lt; 001) effects on the uptake in grain, stems, and total nitrogen uptake by corn compared to the control and urea alone. This study highlighted that modified urea fertilizers such as urea + potassium humate and urea cocrystal were better than conventional urea to improve corn yield productivity and N use efficiency

A Mixture of Green Waste Compost and Biomass Combustion Ash for Recycled Nutrient Delivery to Soil

The use of major nutrient-containing solid residuals, such as recycled solid waste materials, has a strong potential in closing the broken nutrient cycles. In this work, biofuel ash (BA) combined with green waste compost (GWC) was used as a nutrient source to improve soil properties and enhance wheat and triticale yields. The main goal was to obtain the nutrient and heavy metal release dynamics and ascertain whether GWC together with BA can potentially be used for concurrent bioremediation to mitigate any negative solid waste effects on the environment. Both BA and GWC were applied in the first year of study. No fertilization was performed in the second year of the study. The results obtained in this work showed the highest spring wheat yield when the GWC (20 t ha−1) and BA (4.5 t ha−1) mixture was used. After the first harvest, the increase in the mobile forms of all measured nutrients was detected in the soil with complex composted materials (GWC + BA). The content of heavy metals (Cd, Zn, and Cr) in the soil increased significantly with BA and all GWC + BA mixtures. In both experiment years, the application of BA together with GWC resulted in fewer heavy metals transferred to the crops than with BA alone

Cattle Horn Shavings: A Possible Nitrogen Source for Apple Trees

The circular economy concept promotes the recycling of agricultural waste. This study was aimed at investigating the effects of cattle horn shavings on apple tree nitrogen nutrition. Ligol apple trees on P 60 rootstock were the object of the study. The experiment was conducted in the experimental orchard of the Institute of Horticulture, Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry, from 2015 to 2018. Two fertiliser rates were tested: 50 and 100 kg/ha N. Horn shavings (14.1% N) were applied at the end of autumn or at the beginning of vegetation in the spring and in one treatment 100 kg/ha N rate was divided into two equal parts and applied both in autumn and spring. The effects of the horn shavings were compared with the effects of ammonium nitrate (34.4% N) and the unfertilised treatment. The lowest mineral nitrogen content was found in the unfertilised orchard soil and the soil fertilised with horn shavings in the spring at 50 kg/ha N equivalent. In all other cases, the fertilisers increased the soil’s mineral nitrogen content. The lowest leaf nitrogen content was found in apple trees that grew in the unfertilised orchard soil or soil fertilised in the spring with 50 kg/ha N of horn shavings (1.58–2.13%). In other cases, leaf nitrogen content was higher (1.77–2.17%). The apple trees with the lowest leaf nitrogen content produced the smallest average yield (34.5–36.6 t/ha). The highest yield was recorded from fruit trees fertilised with 50 kg/ha N of ammonium nitrate applied in spring or horn shavings applied in autumn (42.4 and 41.4 t/ha, respectively). The influence of horn shavings on the other studied parameters was similar to that of ammonium nitrate. Horn shavings, like nitrogen fertiliser, could facilitate nitrogen nutrition management in apple trees, especially in organic orchards, where the use of synthetic fertilisers is prohibited