Slow but Sure: The Potential of Slow-Release Nitrogen Fertilizers to Increase Crop Productivity and farm profit in Nepal
| Author | Naba Raj Pandit | |
| Author | Yam Kanta Gaihre | |
| Author | Dyutiman Choudhary | |
| Author | Roshan Subedi | |
| Author | Surya Bahadur Thapa | |
| Author | Shashish Maharjan | |
| Author | Dinesh Khadka | |
| Author | Shree Prasad Vista | |
| Author | Leonard Rusinamhodzi | |
| Jurisdiction: | Nepal | |
| Date of acession | 2023-04-17T11:42:01Z | |
| Date of availability | 2023-04-17T11:42:01Z | |
| Date of issue | 2022-04-27 | |
| Abstract | Reduction of nitrogen (N) input in cropping systems is critical to reduce environmental pollution and achieve sustainable development goals. Multi-location field trials for maize (n ¼ 120) and rice (n ¼ 84) were conducted across nine districts in Nepal during 2018 and 2019 to assess the potential of polymer-coated urea (PCU) and urea briquette (UB) to increase agronomic N use efficiency (AEN), crop productivity and farm profits over conventional urea (CU). Nitrogen rates applied in PCU and UB treatments were 22% to 50% lower than CU (120 and 100 kg N ha 1 for maize and rice respectively). In maize, both PCU (8.4 t ha 1) and UB (8.5 t ha 1) applied at 50% and 25% lower N rates respectively produced similar grain yields compared with CU (7.9 t ha 1). Similar results were observed in rice where PCU and UB applied at 22% less N led to a productivity of 5.4 and 5.5 to 1 respectively over CU (5.1 t ha 1). Moreover, both PCU and UB increased maize and rice yields significantly compared with current farmer’s practices (FP). In both maize and rice, PCU and UB significantly increased partial factor productivity of N (PFPN) and agronomic NUE (AEN) compared with CU. Furthermore, PCU and UB increased farmer’s net income by US$88 and US$148 in maize and by US$10 and US$87 in rice respectively. These results suggest that PCU and UB could save N input by 22-50% while maintaining similar or even higher yield and higher benefit to farmers compared with CU. | |
| Citation | Naba Raj Pandit, Yam Kanta Gaihre, Dyutiman Choudhary, Roshan Subedi, Surya Bahadur Thapa, Shashish Maharjan, Dinesh Khadka, Shree Prasad Vista & Leonard Rusinamhodzi (2022): Slow but sure: the potential of slow-release nitrogen fertilizers to increase crop productivity and farm profit in Nepal, Journal of Plant Nutrition, DOI: 10.1080/01904167.2022.2067053 | |
| URL | https://hub.ifdc.org/handle/20.500.14297/2091 | |
| Language | en_US | |
| Subject | Maize | |
| Subject | Nitrogen-use efficiency | |
| Subject | Rice | |
| Title | Slow but Sure: The Potential of Slow-Release Nitrogen Fertilizers to Increase Crop Productivity and farm profit in Nepal | |
| Type | Article |