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. 2022 Nov 9;11(22):3020.
doi: 10.3390/plants11223020.

Comparative Study Effect of Urea-Sulfur Fertilizers on Nitrogen Uptake and Maize Productivity

Samar Swify  1   2 , Dovile Avizienyte  1 , Romas Mazeika  1 , Zita Braziene  1
Affiliations

Comparative Study Effect of Urea-Sulfur Fertilizers on Nitrogen Uptake and Maize Productivity

Samar Swify et al. Plants (Basel). .

Abstract

Combined nitrogen (N) and sulfur (S) fertilization is a good management strategy to reduce N loss and increase the efficiency of N fertilizers to achieve high grain yields and quality. Field trials for 2 yrs. (2018-2019) were conducted to evaluate the comparative advantage of conventional urea (150 N kg ha-1) compared to urea+ ammonium sulfate (150 N kg ha-1), urea+ calcium sulfate (150 N kg ha-1), and urea cocrystals (CaSO4.4urea) (150 N kg ha-1) when applied as nitrogen fertilizers to the maize. The statistics show a significant treatments effect on developed corn cobs, fresh and dry cob yields and grain yield, with 1000 grains with better results in 2019 than in 2018. The fertilization treatments affected grain yields significantly for 2018 and 2019, respectively. Urea+ ammonium sulfate and urea cocrystal provided a significant increase in grain yields by 10.5% and 7.50%, respectively, compared to urea in 2018, w1hereas, in 2019, urea cocrystal supplied the grain yields with a significant increase of 23.07% compared to urea, followed by urea + calcium sulfate which provided a 10.46% increase compared to urea. The study highlights that using urea-sulfur fertilizers enhanced the release of mineral nitrogen in the soil, improved the grain's N uptake by the plant and increased maize grain yields.

Keywords: ammonium sulfate; maize productivity; nitrogen uptake; sulfur; urea; urea cocrystal.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Mean monthly temperatures °C and precipitation (mm) during the growing maize season for the 2 years study (2018–2019).
Figure 2
Figure 2
The release of nitrate NO3-N (A,B) and ammonium NH4-N (C,D) with time from the fertilizer treatments in soil surface layer 0–30 cm during the maize growth period and after harvest (AH) in 2018 (A,C) and 2019 (B,D). C = Control U = Urea, UAS = Urea + ammonium sulfate, UCS = Urea + CaSO4, and UCSC = Urea cocrystal (CaSO4.4urea). (A) C r = −0.956**; U r = −0.715*; UAS r = −0.705*; UCS r = −0.714* and UCSC r = −0.654*; (B) C r = −0.986**; U r = −0.455; UAS r = −0.433; UCS r = −0.616 and UCSC r = −0.713*; (C) C r = −0.802**; U r = 0.267; UAS r = −0.359; UCS r = −0.259 and UCSC r = 0.350; (D) C r = −0.834**; U r = −0.212; UAS r = −0.398; UCS r = −0.273 and UCSC r = 0.103. * Significant differences at p < 0.05; ** Significant differences at p < 0.01.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The release of mineral nitrogen (A,B) and soil available sulfur (C,D) with time from the fertilizer treatments in soil surface layer 0–30 cm during the maize growth period and after harvest (AH) in 2018 (A,C) and 2019 (B,D). C = Control U = Urea, UAS = Urea + ammonium sulfate, UCS = Urea + CaSO4, and UCSC = Urea cocrystal (CaSO4.4urea). (A) C r = −0.964**; U r = −0.698*; UAS r = −0.699*; UCS r = −0.704* and UCSC r = −0.648*; (B) C r = −0.981**; U r = −0.441; UAS r = −0.453; UCS r = −0.611 and UCSC r = −0.694*; (C) C r = 0.843**; U r = 0.927**; UAS r = 0.279; UCS r = 0.670* and UCSC r = 0.380; (D) C r = −0.528; U r = 0.182; UAS r = 0.253; UCS r = 0.759* and UCSC r = 0.034; * Significant differences at p < 0.05; ** Significant differences at p < 0.01.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The effect of the urea-sulfur fertilizers on grain yields for 2 years. (2018–2019). Control U = Urea, UAS = Urea + ammonium sulfate, UCS = Urea + CaSO4 and UCSC = Urea cocrystal (CaSO4.4urea). Note 1. Columns followed by the same letter with the same size are not different (p < 0.05) according to Duncan’s multiple range test at the 5% level. Note 2. No significant differences between both seasons.
Figure 5
Figure 5
The matrix correlation between the total nitrogen (%) and the crude protein (%) and starch content (%) in the maize grains during 2018 (A) and 2019 (B).
Figure 6
Figure 6
The correlation matrix relations effect of soil mineral N and sulfur on the N uptake in the grains, the grain’s total N, and the grain’s yield in 2018.
Figure 7
Figure 7
The correlation matrix relations effect of soil mineral N and sulfur on the N uptake in the grains, the grain’s total N, and the grain yield in 2019.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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