Siberian scientists have developed "slow" fertilizers

Scientists from the Siberian Federal University (SFU) and the Krasnoyarsk Scientific Center of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences have developed fertilizers that decompose more slowly in the soil in comparison with traditional fertilizers, providing plants with stable feeding for several months. The development article was published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

“The advantage of slow release of the active ingredient is that this fertilizer works for the first three months of plant growth without additional feeding,” the article says.

Scientists have made compressed tablets from a mixture of a traditional fertilizer – ammonium nitrate, adding a biodegradable polymer, poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (P3GB). In this case, some of the tablets were additionally coated with a polymer shell for even slower dissolution in soil. The researchers then tested the new fertilizer in experiments with wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Wheat samples were grown using pure ammonium nitrate and using these two types of tablets.

The experimental results showed the greatest efficiency of the coated tablets. The biomass of wheat grown using them turned out to be 25% more than that of wheat grown using traditional fertilizers. Scientists note that the addition of a biodegradable polymer allowed the active substance to be released into the soil much longer than usual – up to three months. It can be placed in the soil while sowing seeds and no longer need to cultivate plants. This approach also helps to reduce emissions of harmful substances into the environment.

Source: http://tass.ru/nauka