Ammonia Volatilization of Experimental Zinc Sulfate Coated Urea Fertilizer on Four Rice Soil.

Current advances at mitigating ammonia volatilization have been archived by modifying fertilizers. Incubation studies provide quick and reliable evaluations of the performance of these new products prior to conducting large scale field experiments. Soil properties such as soil pH, moisture and texture influence rate of ammonia volatilization. The objective of this experiment was to monitor ammonia volatilization from four soils treated with several experimental nitrogen fertilizers. A completely randomized design was used to evaluate ammonia volatilization from 4 soils using 8 nitrogen sources. The soils evaluated were Crowley (pH 6.9), Crowley (pH 7.4), Mowata and Kinder silt loams. Treatments were replicated three times. The nitrogen sources examined were urea, three n-butyl thiophosphoric triamide (NBPT) treated urea at 0.03%, 0.06% and 0.09%, and four zinc sulfate coated urea (ZSCU); ZSCU, ZSCU+0.17% B, ZSCU+.17% B+0.06% NBPT, ZSCU+.17% B + 0.06% NBPT + Calcium shell coating). Ammonia volatilization losses from soils were monitored over 14 day period using a customized ammonia volatility measurement microcosm system. Cumulative ammonia volatilization from urea was greater than all the fertilizers. There was no significant difference among different rates of NBPT-treated urea and ZSCU fertilizers. Cummulative ammonia volatility was significantly different among soil.