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Separating Nitrogen Polymers from Urea in Ureaform Fertilizer to Study Soil Nitrogen Transformations
Author(s) -
Chien S. H.,
Singh U.,
Austin E. R.,
Kruse J. S.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
soil science society of america journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.836
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1435-0661
pISSN - 0361-5995
DOI - 10.2136/sssaj2010.0422
Subject(s) - urea , urease , polymer , chemistry , fertilizer , urea formaldehyde , coated urea , nitrogen , hydrolysis , nuclear chemistry , incubation , mineralization (soil science) , inorganic chemistry , organic chemistry , biochemistry , adhesive , layer (electronics)
A technique was developed to separate polymers from urea in a soluble urea‐formaldehyde (ureaform) N fertilizer that contained 45.3% of total N as urea N and 54.0% as polymer N. First, urease was used to hydrolyze urea to NH 4 HCO 3 . Then NH 4 –N was precipitated with sodium tetraphenylboron followed by filtration. The filtrate that contained the polymers was compared with urea and ureaform in a soil incubation at 0, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 10, and 12 wk. The N rates of urea and polymers applied separately were the same as urea and polymers applied from ureaform. The results showed that the amounts of NH 4 –N and NO 3 –N produced from the ureaform fertilizer were about the same as the sum of those from urea and polymers, indicating the successful separation of polymers from the urea in the ureaform fertilizer. Mineralization of polymer N to NH 4 –N and NO 3 –N ranged from 45 to 80% of the polymer N applied during the incubation.