Usage Rubber Coating Fertilizer as A Green Fertilizer and Studying Its Effects on Soil Fertility, Recovery and Agronomic Efficiencies of Some Crops

Authors

  • S. H. Abd Elghany Soils, Water and Environment Research Institute, ARC, Giza, Egypt.
  • A. K. Abdel Fattah Soils, Water and Environment Research Institute, ARC, Giza, Egypt.
  • M. A. Esmaeil Soils, Water and Environment Research Institute, ARC, Giza, Egypt.
  • A. A. Arafat Soils, Water and Environment Research Institute, ARC, Giza, Egypt.

Keywords:

Rubber coating fertilizer, slow release fertilizer, wheat, maize, recovery, agronomic efficiency

Abstract

Cheap, environmentally friend, naturally, and biodegradables, these are the criteria to the optimum fertilizer in current age. The aim of this study was to prepare a naturally coated fertilizer by wrapping NPK fertilizer with a natural liquid rubber and to determine the effect of different treatments of NPK coated fertilizer on soil fertility and crop production compared to the traditional fertilizers. A field
experiment was conducted for summer (2021) season followed by winter season (2021/2022) in a sandy soil at Ismailia Agriculture Research Station farm, Agric. Res. Center (ARC), Egypt. Maize and wheat crops were selected to deduce this search. The design of the experiment was a complete randomized block design with three replicates, slow release fertilizer (Rubber coating fertilizer-RCF) under investigations was applied directly at once through soil preparation at rates of 25%, 50% and 75% of recommended dose (RD) for both maize and wheat crops through the different seasons comparing to the uncoated fertilizer (traditional fertilizer –TF) which consider 100% of recommended dose. A parallel laboratory experiment was designed using soil columns to examine the releasing behavior of slow release fertilizer prepared by coating NPK fertilizer by natural rubber. The conducted column experiment showed that the cumulative amount of the different macronutrients (NPK) for traditional fertilizer at soil depth of 0-25 cm was about 100%, while the recorded value for the (RCF) was around 60%, i.e. the whole amount of added fertilizer was lost and about 40% of RCF still presented whereas at soil depth. The field application of RCF at different rates (25, 50 and 75% of recommended dose) has over showed its efficiency to reduce the release rate of fertilizer within soil and enhancing soil chemical properties such as EC, where the lowest value for EC recorded at RCF 25% of RD values during the two seasons. The enhanced soil properties and nutrients availability due to field application of RCF were reflected on crop productivities and nutrient contents in dry matter of both maize and wheat crops, whereas the highest values of these parameters were recorded for RCF treatment at level of (50% RD). The effect of RCF treatments on recovery efficiency percent (RE%) and agronomic efficiency (AE) for maize and wheat crops was estimated. The data obtained concluded that the highest RE% and AE results were observed for RCF at level of 50% of applied recommended doses while the lowest RE% and AE results were for RCF at levels of 25% and TF for N, P, and K for both maize and wheat crops, where the unit of nitrogen, phosphorus or potassium per fedden produces 52.33, 465.18, and 314.00 kg of maize grains, respectively in case of applying RCF at 50% of RD while the corresponding values for control (100% RD) were 29.01, 257.77, and 174.00 kg, respectively. Regarding to wheat crop, the unit of each of N, P, or k per fedden produced 29.00, 257.77 and 174 kg of wheat grains, respectively at the same level of RCF. Whereas the corresponding values for control (100% RD) were 17.25, 153.33 and 103.51 kg of wheat grains, respectively.

Published

20.04.2023