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Development and Testing of Improved Efficiency Boron-Enriched Diammonium Phosphate Fertilizers

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Abstract

The application of boron (B) fertilizers is challenging due to the high solubility of commonly used B compounds, the small requirement by crops, and the narrow range between toxicity and deficiency levels for plants. The application of a B-only fertilizer without a macronutrient carrier is inefficient due to the high cost of double handling and the poor distribution of the micronutrient in the field. An improved efficiency B fertilizer is proposed using a wax- or elemental sulfur (ES)–coated core of granulated colemanite within a pellet composed of diammonium phosphate (DAP). We assessed the dissolution rate, release in soil, and crop uptake in two consecutive crops under simulated leaching conditions. The fertilizers with the wax- or ES-coated colemanite core showed a much slower release of B compared to DAP pelleted with borax or uncoated colemanite. A soil incubation experiment showed initially elevated extractable B concentrations (> 5 mg kg−1) around the fertilizer with the uncoated B powders. The coated fertilizers showed a more gradual release of B, with 32–38% of the B still in the pellets 8 weeks after application to soil. In plant growth experiments, 24–37% of the added B was lost in leachates for the uncoated products compared to only 1–2% for the coated products which resulted in higher B uptake and higher yield for coated fertilizers. We infer from the results that these novel compound fertilizers released B at a rate slow enough to prevent large leaching losses of B but fast enough to meet plant B demand.

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Acknowledgements

Tayyaba Samreen is highly obliged to the Australian Government for providing the Endeavour Research Fellowship which enabled her to work in the Fertilizer Technology Research Center (FTRC), University of Adelaide, Australia, under the supervision of Prof. Michael McLaughlin and supported by The Mosaic Company, LLC. She is also grateful to the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan, for leave, and for moral support from Liellie McLaughlin and Mihiri Seneviratne during her stay in Australia. We are thankful to Colin Rivers, Bogumila Tomzcak, Ivan Andelkovic, and Ashleigh Broadbent for their technical assistance.

Funding

This work was supported by the Endeavour Research Fellowship, Australia, and The Mosaic Company, LLC.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Soil and Environmental Sciences, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Faisalabad, Punjab, Pakistan

    Tayyaba Samreen, Zahir Ahmad Zahir, Muhammad Zulqernain Nazir & Abdul Wakeel

  2. School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia

    Fien Degryse, Roslyn Baird, Rodrigo Coqui da Silva & Michael McLaughlin

  3. Directorate of Pest Warning and Quality Control of Pesticides, Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan

    Sidra-Tul-Muntaha

Authors
  1. Tayyaba Samreen
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  2. Fien Degryse
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  3. Roslyn Baird
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  4. Rodrigo Coqui da Silva
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  5. Zahir Ahmad Zahir
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  6. Muhammad Zulqernain Nazir
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  7. Abdul Wakeel
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  8. Sidra-Tul-Muntaha
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  9. Michael McLaughlin
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Contributions

Tayyaba Samreen: conceptualization, formal analysis, writing—original draft. Fien Degryse: conceptualization, investigation, drafting. Roslyn Baird and Rodrigo Coqui da Silva: conceptualization, drafting. Zahir Ahmad Zahir: drafting. Abdul Wakeel, Sidra-Tul-Muntaha, and Muhammad Zulqernain Nazir: statistical analysis, drafting. Michael McLaughlin: conceptualization, drafting, supervision.

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Correspondence to Tayyaba Samreen.

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Samreen, T., Degryse, F., Baird, R. et al. Development and Testing of Improved Efficiency Boron-Enriched Diammonium Phosphate Fertilizers. J Soil Sci Plant Nutr 21, 1134–1143 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42729-021-00428-w

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