Urea -46% nitrogen

NPK-16-16-16

Foliar fertilizer-19-19-19

Inorganic Fertilizers for Crop Production

Thirteen of the nutrients plants needs are supplied solely by
soil. Insufficient supply of any of these nutrients may limit
plant growth.

Under natural conditions, nutrients are recycled from plants

to soil to meet plant needs. This balance often differs with
agricultural, because crops demand more nutrients than
natural vegetation.

Significant amounts of nutrients are also removed in harvested crops. Because of these factors,
supplemental nutrients may be added to the soil to ensure optimal crop growth and profitability.
These supplements may include fertilizers, animal manures, green manures, and legumes. This
publication concentrates on the properties of commonly used inorganic fertilizers important in
improving plant growth.

Soil testing should be the basis for any fertilizer application. A good soil testing program
indicates the current fertility status of the soil and provides sound guidelines for managing
fertility to achieve optimal yields. Good records of soil test results and fertilizer, lime, and
manure applications are also very important to proper nutrient management.

Important Conventions, Conversions, and Definitions

Nutrients are expressed on fertilizer labels as nitrogen (N), phosphate (P2O5), and potash (K2O),
respectively (N-P-K). This is called the oxide form for elemental phosphorus (P) and potassium
(K). In some cases, nutrients may be expressed in either form. Following are simple
conversions between the oxide and elemental forms:

Fertilizer recommendations by the Mississippi State University Extension Service Soil Testing
Laboratory are made in terms of pounds of phosphate or potassium per acre.

Fertilizer grade or analysis is the weight percent of available nitrogen (N), phosphate
(P2O5), and potash (K2O) in the fertilizer, usually expressed as N-P2O5-K2O. For example, 10-
20- 10 indicates 10 percent N, 20 percent P2O5, and 10 percent K2O by weight.

Fertilizer ratio is the ratio of weight percents of N-P2O5-K2O and is determined by dividing the
three numbers by the smallest of the three.

Again using 10-20-10 as an example, the ratio is 10/10-20/10-10/10 = 1-2-1.

After soil tests indicate the need for a certain amount of plant food, you must determine the total
amount of fertilizer needed, based on the grade of product. A given weight of two fertilizers with
different analyses or grade contain different amounts of actual plant food. For example, 100
pounds of a 10-30-10 fertilizer contains 10 pounds of N, 30 pounds of P2O5, and 10 pounds of
K2O, but 100 pounds of a 7-21-7 fertilizer contains 7 pounds of N, 21 pounds of P2O5, and 7
pounds of K2O. Both of these fertilizers have the same nutrient ratio (1-3-1) but different grades
(10-30-10 versus 7-21-7). Different total amounts of fertilizer are required to provide equal
amounts of plant food. Application rates must be determined on the basis of the plant food
needed.

Straight materials are the basic materials used in fertilizer manufacture. Many of these
materials can be applied directly. Examples include anhydrous ammonia, urea, urea-ammonium
nitrate solutions, triple superphosphate, ammonium phosphates, and muriate of potash
(potassium chloride).

Compound fertilizers are made by chemically or physically combining the straight materials.

Considerations in Using Fertilizers

Once soil test results say you need supplemental fertilizer, you must consider several important
factors in selecting the right one. These factors include physical and chemical properties,
environmental stewardship, economics, and dealer service.
Fertilizer Formulations

Many different physical and chemical forms of commercial fertilizer are available (refer to the
table above). Fertilizer materials can be solids, liquids, or gases. Each physical form has its own
uses and limitations, which provide the basis for selecting the best material for the job.

Granulated fertilizer materials are solid, homogenous mixtures of fertilizer materials generally
produced by combining raw materials such as anhydrous ammonia, phosphoric acid, and
potassium chloride. Granulated materials are N-P or N-P-K grades of fertilizer. Each uniform-
sized fertilizer particle contains all of the nutrients in the grade. For example, each particle in a
10-20-10 granulated fertilizer theoretically contains 10 percent nitrogen, 20 percent phosphate,
and 10 percent potash. The main advantage of granulated materials is this uniform distribution
of nutrients. The nutrients are not separated in handling or spreading, and plant roots absorb a
complete set of the applied nutrients. Granulated fertilizers generally have good handling
properties, with little tendency to cake or dust.

Blended fertilizers are simple physical mixtures of dry fertilizer materials. The ingredients of a
blended fertilizer can be straight materials, such as urea or potassium chloride; they can be
granulated compound fertilizer materials mixed together; or they can be a combination of the
two. In blended fertilizers, the individual particles remain separate in the mixture, and the
nutrients can separate. This problem can be reduced if materials are the same size. Properly
made blends are generally as effective as other compound fertilizers. Blends have the
advantage of allowing a very wide range of fertilizer grades. This makes it possible to match a
fertilizer exactly to a soil test recommendation. Blends are often used as starter fertilizers, but
urea and diammonium phosphate should not be used as starter fertilizers placed close to seeds,
because both materials produce free ammonia, which can hinder seed germination and
seedling growth.

Fluid fertilizers are used widely in Mississippi. Fluids can be either straight materials, such as
nitrogen solutions, or compound fertilizers of various grades. Fluid fertilizers are categorized into
two groups: clear solutions and suspensions.

In clear solutions nutrients are completely dissolved in water. The major advantage is ease of
handling. In addition, the phosphorus in these materials is highly water soluble. The
disadvantages are that only relatively low analyses are possible, especially when the material
contains potassium, and the cost per unit of nutrients is generally higher. Clear solutions are
equal in agronomic effectiveness to other types of fertilizers, when equal amounts of plant food
are compared.

Suspension fertilizers are fluids in which solubility of the components has been exceeded and
clay has been added to keep the very fine, undissolved, fertilizer particles from settling out. The
major advantage is that they can be handled as a fluid. Another advantage is that they can be
formulated at much higher analyses than clear solutions. These formulations may contain
analyses as high as dry materials. The major disadvantages are that suspensions require
constant agitation, even in storage, and suspension fertilizer cannot be used as a carrier for
certain chemicals. As in the case of clear solutions, the agronomic effectiveness of suspensions
are equal to other types of fertilizer materials when equal amounts of plant food are compared.

Fertilizer grade or analysis is always referred to on a weight percent basis, not on a volume
(gallon) basis. Thus, to determine the actual plant nutritive value, you must know the weight per
gallon of the material. Most fluids weigh between 10 and 12 pounds per gallon. The following
example illustrates the calculations:

Gaseous fertilizer requires some special considerations in handling and use. Anhydrous
ammonia is a high analysis nitrogen gaseous fertilizer used both in the manufacture of all other
common nitrogen-containing fertilizers and in direct applications to the soil. Once applied,
anhydrous ammonia behaves similarly to any other ammonium nitrogen source. But special
handling methods and safety precautions are required, because anhydrous ammonia is stored
as a compressed liquid. When expansion occurs during application to the soil, it immediately
becomes a gas. Thus, it must be injected into the soil to prevent the gas from escaping.

Some hazards are involved in handling anhydrous ammonia. Since the material can cause
serious chemical burns and asphyxiation, proper safety precautions are necessary. Anhydrous
ammonia is an excellent nitrogen fertilizer, but you must handle it properly.

Organic materials commonly used as fertilizers have many varied properties. So you must
individually evaluate the physical properties of these materials. Since the specific chemical
properties of fertilizers also are very complex and varied, a detailed discussion of all their
chemical properties is not possible here. But you will need to consider several important
chemical properties in selecting a fertilizer material. These properties are solubility, particle size,
soil pH, chemical form, and soluble salts.

Fertilizer Properties

Solubility indicates how readily nutrients are dissolved in the soil water and taken up by plants.
Since the nitrogen and potassium in fertilizers are essentially completely soluble in water, their
solubility is not a major consideration for the common fertilizer sources. Only phosphorus that is
soluble in neutral ammonium citrate (this includes the water soluble phosphorus) is counted as
available phosphorus on the fertilizer label.

Phosphorus must be dissolved in water to be taken up by plants. The water solubility of

available phosphorus can vary from 0 to 100 percent. Generally, the higher the water solubility,
the more effective the phosphorus source is for short-season fast-growing crops, for crops with
restricted root-systems, for starter fertilizers, and for situations where less than optimal rates of
phosphorus are applied to low fertility soils. Water solubility of the available phosphorus is less
important in other applications. Fortunately, most common phosphorus sources (triple super-
phosphate and the ammonium phosphates) contain highly water soluble forms of phosphorus.
There is no apparent difference in agronomic effectiveness when a highly water soluble
phosphorus source is applied as a fluid fertilizer or as a dry fertilizer. Materials such as raw rock
phosphate have very low water solubility.

Particle size of a fertilizer material can be important for both agronomic and handling reasons.
In agronomic applications, particle size is most important for sparingly soluble materials such as
rock phosphate. These materials must be very finely ground to ensure sufficient solubility. For
most soluble fertilizers, particle size is not critical for agronomic purposes but is very important
in determining ease of handling of the materials. Very fine materials, which often become dusty
and can cake, are difficult to handle; granular materials are sized to avoid these problems and
to promote handling convenience. While there is no standard for particle size, most fertilizers
are sized to pass through a No. 6 (coarse) screen but be retained on a No. 18 screen (finer).
Particle size is most critical for materials used in blended products. Materials of different sizes
tend to segregate as the fertilizer is handled and spread. Particle size has been identified as the
most important factor in producing a stable, high quality blended fertilizer.

Soil pH can be changed by the reaction of fertilizer materials. The most important such reaction
is the microbial oxidation of ammonium nitrogen to nitrate nitrogen. This occurs regardless of
the source of ammonium nitrogen (fertilizer, manure, or organic residues). The acidity of a
fertilizer is usually given by convention as the amount of pure limestone that would be required
to offset the acidity produced by the reaction of the fertilizer.

Equivalent acidity of some fertilizer materials

Equivalent acidity
Material
(lb. CaCO3 per lb. of N)
Anhydrous ammonia 1.8
Urea 1.8
Ammonium nitrate 1.8
Manure 1.8
Diammonium phosphate (DAP) 3.5
Ammonium sulphate 5.3
Monoammonium phosphate (MAP) 5.3
Equivalent acidities can be used to compare materials, but the actual amount of limestone
required to neutralize the acidity from the fertilizer is probably greater than shown here. Many of
these materials greatly, but temporarily, increase the soil pH. Another example of this temporary
pH change is the reaction of the superphosphate materials. The initial reaction is a drastic
lowering of the pH around the fertilizer particle, but the residual effect of the superphosphates
changes the soil pH very little. The common potassium materials are neutral salts that have no
effect on the soil pH.

Chemical forms of the nutrient itself are critical for agronomic crops only in special situations.
There is generally little practical difference, for example, between an ammonium and a nitrate
nitrogen source (if leaching or denitrification are serious potential problems, then the ammonium
form is preferred) or between orthophosphates and polyphosphates (unless insoluble
micronutrients are added to a liquid fertilizer, in which case the polyphosphates are preferred) or
between potassium chloride and potassium sulfate (some crops such as tobacco are sensitive
to chloride, in which case the sulfate is preferred).

Soluble salts, at high concentrations in soil solution, can injure or kill plants or prevent
germination of seeds. Under normal conditions, fertilizers uniformly distributed at recommended
rates do not cause soluble salt levels high enough to damage plants. But a concentrated
application of fertilizer or manure placed in contact with the seed or in a band near the
germinating seed or growing plant can cause damage. An estimate of potential salt injury from
different fertilizers is given as the salt index for that material. The salt index is a relative scale
useful for comparing materials for special placement (such as for drilling with the seed, banding
at high rates, and for pop-up treatments) when a low salt index is preferred. Following is the salt
index for several common fertilizer materials.
 Environmental Responsibility

Fertilizers are significant investments of money and time that require diligent management; they
work best when provided to growing plants when they need them by using appropriate
technology and careful decisions. The goal is fertilizer management that will minimize
detrimental environmental affects while maximizing agronomic and economic benefits. Nutrient
Management Planning evaluates all potential nutrient sources, soil test levels, crop
management needs, and environmental risk factors

Nutrient Management Planning is implemented through Best Management Practice (BMPs)

application. These are some BMPs:

 Regular soil tests. The Mississippi State University Extension Service recommends soil
testing at least every three years. Always sample the same time of year for year-to-year
comparisons.
 Use realistic yield goals to determine nitrogen application rates if they are part of the
recommendations.
 Select the most suitable nitrogen fertilizer for the crop, application method, and climatic
conditions.
 Use the proper application technique for the situation.
 Maintain and calibrate application equipment.
 Avoid application to surface waters.
 Time nutrient applications appropriately for most agronomic benefit and minimal
environmental impact.
 Control soil erosion because many nutrients move when soil particles move.
 Properly control water flow. Slow water down when appropriate by conservation
practices, or speed water movement when appropriate.
 Use cover crops, and maintain crop residue on the soil surface.

Economics

The final decision about which fertilizer to use should be based on economics. Compare
materials on the basis of a price per pound of actual plant food.
To compare price per pound of plant food use this formula: (Price per ton of fertilizer)/(2000 x
plant food content as decimal value) = per pound of plant food.

An example with urea priced at $500 per ton. Each ton of urea is 45% nitrogen, so each ton
contains 900 pounds of nitrogen (2000/0.45). Dividing $500 by 900 shows the cost is $0.56 per
pound of nitrogen in the fertilizer.

The maximum return per dollar invested in fertilizer is achieved from the first increment applied
to a deficient soil or crop when the nutrient is needed. However the maximum profit is achieved
at a rate of fertilization that produces near maximum yield. At this economic optimum, the value
of any yield increase produced by higher fertilizer rates just covers the cost of the additional
fertilizer.

Dealer Service

Most fertilizer dealers handle high quality products, often at similar prices. The quality of dealer
service (reliability, timeliness, agronomic knowledge, other services offered) is a major
consideration in choosing a fertilizer.

When manufacturers list a fertilizer as organic, it means the nutrients were once part of, or created by, a
living plant or animal. Inorganic fertilizers, on the other hand, are nutrients that living sources didn't
produce. Plants require 16 different elements, whether from an organic or inorganic source, in order to
thrive. Nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium are the three most important nutrients, alongside trace
elements such as iron, boron and zinc. These elements take many forms, but manufacturers commonly
use the same nutrient-releasing compounds in their inorganic fertilizers.

Ammonium Nitrate
Ammonium nitrate is 33- to 34-percent nitrogen. Its popularity decreased as urea became the preferred
nitrogen source, but some fertilizer manufacturers prefer ammonium nitrate for its versatility. Ammonium
nitrate quickly releases nitrogen to plants and is best used in late spring, when plants are putting on new
growth. This compound is explosive and has strict production and storage requirements.

Ammonium Sulfate
An industrial byproduct, ammonium sulfate is 21-percent nitrogen and is the most acidifying of the
nitrogen fertilizers, making it a good choice for highly alkaline soils. However, it is not as nitrogen-rich as
ammonium nitrate or urea, and fertilizer manufacturers must add more of this compound to their product
in order to reach the same nitrogen amount, increasing production costs.

Potassium Chloride
Potassium chloride is the most common source of potassium, according to the Michigan State University
Extension. It is 60- to 62-percent potassium, the highest of the potassium fertilizers, and some products
list it as muriate of potash. Depending on the mining and extracting process, potassium chloride granules
vary in size, color and solubility.

Triple Superphosphate
Although diammonium phosphate and its attached nitrogen has increased in market share, triple
superphosphate remains popular as a phosphorous source in granular fertilizers. Triple superphosphate,
or concentrated superphosphate, is 46-percent phosphorous. Like potassium chloride, it is a mining
product, consisting of ground phosphorous rock or limestone treated with phosphoric acid.

Nitrogen
The front of every fertilizer container features three numbers separated by hyphens (0-0-0) to define the
breakdown of inorganic materials. This number refers to the percentage of this inorganic fertilizer in the
package. The first component is nitrogen (N). Plants require nitrogen in larger amounts since this material
assists plant growth. Nitrogen promotes seed and fruit production. It also serves as an integral
component of the photosynthesis process in which plants convert sunlight to energy. Nitrogen moves
easily through soil layers and often requires frequent replacement due to this mobility. Plants exhibit
yellow leaf edges when insufficient nitrogen exists in the soil.

Phosphorus
The second number on the fertilizer bag refers to phosphorus (P). This inorganic fertilizer component
helps plants form oils, starches and sugars for use in photosynthesis. This chemical also assists the plant
in converting sunlight to chemical energy within the plant. Phosphorus helps plants mature properly with
grow-inducement properties. Lack of phosphorus stresses the plant and inhibits full growth. This chemical
stimulates seedling root production and growth. Phosphorus binds readily with soil particles and remains
active in the soil base for a long period of time, according to the University of Minnesota.

Potassium
The third number shown on the front of the fertilizer bag refers to the potassium (K) content in the
product. Plants use higher volumes of potassium that phosphorus. Like nitrogen and phosphorus,
potassium also participates in the conversion process of sunlight to energy. Potassium boosts the plant's
energy levels and helps reduce incidences of disease. Potassium stimulates fruit production and lies in
the uppermost layers of the soil. Potassium normally occurs in soil without the addition of further
supplements from fertilizers. However, manufacturers typically include potassium to supplement the
natural occurrences through soil minerals and organic matter in the soil. Plant showing potassium
deficiency exhibit spotted leaf tips and margins. Stems may be weak, and the plant is particularly
susceptible to drought, according to the University of Minnesota.