Why Urea Fertilizer is The King of Fertilizers?

What is Urea Fertilizer?
We all know that most fertilizers provide three primary nutrients: NPK. Nitrogen initiates vegetative growth. Phosphorous improves roots and flowering. Potassium can strengthen resistance to shock such as extremes in temperature or insect attack. Urea is one concentrated source of available nitrogen.
Why Urea Fertilizer is The King of Fertilizers?
Urea fertilizer is the most important nitrogenous fertilizer. There are two main reasons for urea fertilizer to be the king of fertilizers.
Firstly, it has high nitrogen content about 46 percent.
Secondly, it is a white crystalline organic chemical compound. It is neutral and can adapt to almost all the land. It is a waste product formed naturally by metabolizing protein in humans as well as other mammals, amphibians and some fish.
Thirdly, urea is widely used in the agriculture sector both as a fertilizer and animal feed additive.
The main function of urea fertilizer is to provide the plants with nitrogen to promote green leafy growth. It can make the plants look lush, and it’s necessary for the photosynthesis of plants. Urea fertilizer can provide only nitrogen, no phosphorus or potassium, so it’s primarily used for bloom growth and vertical height may not be desired.
Advantages of Urea Fertilizer
* Highest nitrogen content. This percentage is much higher than other available nitrogenous fertilizers in the market.
* The cost of production of urea is relatively low .
* Not subject to fire or explosion hazards, so there is no risk in the storage of urea.
* Wide application. Urea fertilizer can be used for all types of crops and soils and has no harm the soil.
Disadvantages of Urea Fertilizer?
* Very soluble in water and hygroscopic water, and requires better packaging quality.
* Not as stable as other solid nitrogenous fertilizers, decomposes even at room temperatures that results in serious loss.
* If urea contains impurities more than 2 percent, it cannot be used as a fertilizer, since the impurities are toxic to certain crops, particularly citrus.

How to Use Urea Fertilizer?
1. Urea should be applied at the time of sowing. It should not come in contact with the seeds. It also can be applied as a top dressing.
2. Since urea is highly concentrated, it should be used in combination with earth or sand before its application.
3. It should not be applied when the soil contains free water or is likely to remain wet for three or four days after application.

Tips of Blending Urea with Other Fertilizers
Urea is readily blended with monoammonium phosphate or diammonium phosphate. But, urea must not be mixed with any superphosphate unless applied immediately after blending, because urea reacts with superphosphate liberating water molecules. This will produce a damp material that is hard to store and apply.

How to make rational use of fertilizer?

All fertilizers supply plants with the nutrients they need to be in tip-top shape and for normal growth. Proper fertilizer use in agriculture can not only improve soil quality, promote healthy growth, increase crop yields, and improve the utilization rate of fertilizer.
 Organic fertilizers are composed of natural ingredients from plants or animals. Examples include manure and plant parts such as leaves and peanut hulls. Compost, a blend of plant debris broken down by natural processes, is also considered a natural or organic fertilizer. Inorganic fertilizers, on the other hand, are manufactured from minerals or synthetic chemicals. Both organic and inorganic fertilizers supplement the soil and feed plants with nutrients.
However, organic and inorganic fertilizers supply nutrients to soil in different ways. Organic fertilizers create a healthy environment for the soil over a long period of time, while inorganic fertilizers work much more quickly, but fail to create a sustainable environment. Choose the one that best fits your needs, or consider combining them to get the best of both options.

How to Grow Our Plants Well?

We all know that our crops and plants need a number of different chemical elements to grow and thrive well and luxuriantly. The most important are:
* Carbon, hydrogen and oxygen - Available from air and water and therefore in plentiful supply
* Nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium (a.k.a. potash) - The three macronutrients and the three elements you find in most packaged fertilizers
* Sulfur, calcium, and magnesium - Secondary nutrients
* Boron, cobalt, copper, iron, manganese, molybdenum and zinc - Micronutrients
Nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium are needed in the largest quantity by a plant. They are important because they are necessary for these basic building blocks. For example:
* Every amino acid contains nitrogen.
* Every molecule making up every cell's membrane contains phosphorous (the membrane molecules are called phospholipids), and so does every molecule of ATP (the main energy source of all cells).
* Potassium makes up 1 percent to 2 percent of the weight of any plant and, as an ion in cells, is essential to metabolism.

Without nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, the plant simply cannot grow. If any of the macronutrients are missing or hard to obtain from the soil, this will limit the growth rate for the plant. In nature, the nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium often come from the decay of plants. The recycling of nitrogen from dead to living plants is the only source of nitrogen in the soil.
The goal of fertilizer is to make plants grow faster. We can supply the elements that the plants need in readily available forms to meet the plants need. Most fertilizers just supply nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium because their availability has the big limitation to growth. And the other chemicals are needed in much lower quantities and are generally available in most soils.
The numbers on a bag of fertilizer tell us the percentages of available nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium found in the bag. So 12-8-10 fertilizer has 12-percent nitrogen, 8-percent phosphorous and 10-percent potassium. In a 100-pound bag, therefore, 12 pounds is nitrogen, 8 pounds is phosphorous and 10 pounds is potassium. The other 70 pounds is known as ballast and has no value to the plants. Plants are factories that do all of the work to process the basic elements of life and make them available to us.

Compost Technology

What Is Compost?
Compost is a type of nutrient-rich,long manurial effect bio-organic fertilizer. It mainly consists of various plant residue(crop straw,weed,leaf,peat,rubbish and other waste,etc) and human or animal manure; these mixtures finally form compost by means of 7-10 days composting and decomposing. Compost plays quite a fundamental role in the whole growing process of crops and plants. To make good quality and nutritious bio-organic fertilizer, the very composting tool --compost turner is necessary.

Composting Biology
Composting is a method for treating solid waste in which organic material is broken down by microorganisms in the presence of oxygen to a point where it can be safely stored, handled and applied to the environment. Composting can benefit the environment as a natural fertilizer forgardening and farming.
Composting creates the ideal conditions for the natural decay or rotting processes that occur in nature. The compost conditions must be balanced for efficient decomposition.
* Organic waste - newspaper, leaves, grass, kitchen waste (fruits, vegetables), woody materials
* Plenty of air - source of oxygen, mixture should be turned daily or every other day
* Adequate water - mixture should be moist, but not soaking wet
* Proper mix of carbon to nitrogen - ratio should be about 30:1
* Small particle size - big pieces should be broken up, as smaller particles break down more rapidly
* Adequate amount of soil - should provide enough microorganisms for the process

How to Compost?
* During composting, microorganisms from the soil eat the organic (carbon containing) waste and break it down into its simplest parts. This produces a fiber-rich, carbon-containing humus with inorganic nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.
* The microorganisms break the material down through aerobic respiration, and require oxygen that they get from the air you introduce when you turn the material in the compost bin. The microorganisms also require water to live and multiply.
* Through the respiration process, the microorganisms give off carbon dioxide and heat -- temperatures within compost piles can rise as high as 100 to 150 degrees Fahrenheit.

If the compost pile or bin is actively managed by turning and watering it regularly, the process of decomposing into finished compost can happen in as little as two to three weeks (otherwise, it may take months).

Why Compost?
The major goal of composting is to reduce the amount of solid waste you generate. If you reduce solid waste, you will save space in municipal landfills, which will ultimately save you tax money. Finished compost has the advantage of being a useful natural fertilizer that is more environmentally friendly than synthetic fertilizers.
The compost pile actually has a complex organization of living organisms -- a foodweb. All of the organisms work to balance the population of organisms within the compost, which increases the efficiency of the entire process.

Organic Farming

How do you know about organic farming? In this article, we will explore various organic farming methods. Organic farming methods emphasize the use of renewable resources and conservation of soil and water. It all starts with good soil. The right mix of soil leads to healthier crops and animals, reduces their susceptibility to disease, and increases the overall productivity of the farm. Common techniques used by organic farmers to manage soil quality -- which involves not just the soil itself but also water, weeds, disease and pests -- include the use of animal manure, compost, cover crops, green manures and crop rotation.

Compost is organic material used with success in both home gardens and farms. It is made of decaying and decayed organic wastes and is spread on garden beds and organically farmed fields. Examples include:
* Yard trimmings -- wood chips, grass clippings and leaves
* Food waste -- coffee grounds, tea bags, and fruits and vegetables
* Manures -- poultry, cow and horse

Using compost can encourage beneficial bacteria and fungi to grow, helping to create nutrient-rich, moist soil while also eliminating or reducing the need for chemical fertilizers.
Green manures and cover crops also improve soil quality. Plants are grown specifically to benefit the soil and the main crops on the farm -- farmers choose from a variety of cover crop plants depending on the needs of their fields.

Cover crops in general are used to protect the soil's surface from water and wind erosion, help maintain soil structure, and help maintain the level of organic matter of the soil, all of which keeps soil healthy. Green manure is a type of cover crop grown specifically to add nutrients back into the soil; manure is plowed together with the soil, positively increasing the soil's organic matter.
Cover crops are also used in place of conventional pesticides to keep weeds at bay and as a distraction to pests. Have you ever noticed that weeds always seem to take over a bare patch of your lawn? They flourish where no other plants are growing in their way. Cover crops take up space where weeds would love to make their home. The idea behind using cover crops in pest control is to both lure beneficial pests, such as ladybugs, to the field all year round and to deter unwanted pests from the main crops by offering an attractive and tasty alternative.

Crop rotations are also part of the strategy organic farmers use to help sustain soil fertility. For example, this year an organic farmer may grow wheat on a field, graze sheep on that field next, and plan to plant a cover crop of clover the year after. When the same crop is grown on the same land year after year, known as mono-cropping, the soil can become depleted of nutrients it needs to stay healthy. Variety here really is the spice of life.

There is also a variety of sustainable and organic management techniques used in raising livestock, depending on the types of animals on the farm.