Coating phosphorus fertilizer with renewable natural polymers

Low phosphorus use efficiency (PUE) is one of the major reasons of poor production worldwide. Among the various approaches used to enhance PUE, polymer coated fertilizers are relatively a new concept. Its main advantages are that they dissolve slowly and release nutrients to plants gradually during the growing season. Keeping this in view, a study was performed in the laboratory to evaluate polymers coated monoammonium phosphate (MAP) to enhance PUE. Commercial MAP and MAP coated with biodegradable polymers with Krafit black liquor (BL) and cellulose acetate (CA) in the concentration (0.5, 1.0, 2.0 wt % coating). The effectiveness of these coatings was assessed by the electrical conductivity (EC) and phosphorus release (PR) in a kinetic experiment. The kinetic study was carried out in a controlled environment (± 25 °C), following the release pattern of P from 1.5 g of fertilizer in 50 mL of H2O, with and without the coatings. The objective of this work was to study different lignin-based coatings and the phosphorus release behavior of the resulting fertilizer. EC showed to be an effective method of indirect analysis of P releasing from coated MAP. The BL coating presented better results than the CA in terms of controlling the release of P, and the higher the coating ratio (1.0 and 2.0 %) the slower the release of P.