Abstract:
The earth’s population is increasing every day which cause a rise in global food requirements. To overcome this problem of global food security, farmers are bound to employ the fertilizers for agricultural needs as well as to minimize the environmental pollution hazard in the form of various emissions to atmosphere. The most important nitrogenous fertilizer that is extensively used in crop growing due to its sky-scraping nitrogen content composition (46%) is urea. Nevertheless it was found that up to 70 per cent of the common urea application is lost to the atmosphere that resulted in significant contamination to atmosphere and escalating expenditure.
The efficiency of urea can be enhanced by reducing its dissolution rate. This MS research work will focus on use of PVA and Starch with Molasses, Plaster of Paris and Sulphur as a coating material.
Slow release urea samples were prepared by using Dip Coating Technique. Various formulations of different coating materials were made and their dissolution rates were determined by using most useful analytical technique. Conductivity meter method was used to calculate the dissolution rates of slow release urea. Surface Topography was founded by using (SEM). XRD was used to find crystallinty. FTIR was used to find Functional Group. EDS was used for Elemental Analysis. Moreover Crushing Strength and Moisture Contents were also found. Cost Estimation was also done.
This technology gained importance in recent years to produce slow release urea fertilizer by using efficient methods with cheap materials. These materials not only increased the efficiency of fertilizer in terms of reduction in dissolution rate of urea fertilizer but also acted as multi-functional fertilizers or compound fertilizers.
Keywords: Slow release urea fertilizer (SRUF), Dissolution rate, Starch, PVA, Sulphur, Molasses and Plaster of Paris
