A comparison of the effects of prilled urea, used alone or with a nitrification or urease inhibitor, with those of ‘Nitro-Chalk’

Abstract

SummaryPrilled urea, with or without a nitrification inhibitor (dicyandiamide, DCD) or urease inhibitor (hydroquinone), was compared with ‘Nitro-Chalk’ as a nitrogen fertilizer for winter oil-seed rape in field experiments on a clay loam soil at Rothamsted in 1984 and 1985. Each was tested when supplying 50 kg N/ha to the seed bed; each was also broadcast in early spring to supply 150 kg N/ha as either a single dressing or two equal dressings, the form of nitrogen being the same as that applied in the seed bed.Seed-bed nitrogen increased plant growth during autumn and winter in both years but increased yield only in 1985.Scorching of plant leaves was severe in spring after application of urea or urea plus DCD given as a single dressing, but was much less with urea plus hydroquinone or when the dressings were divided. DCD inhibited nitrification of fertilizer nitrogen but had little effect on yield compared with urea alone. Ammonia volatilization losses were reduced by urea plus hydroquinone but, irrespective of the type of fertilizer applied, loss was always less than 3% of the nitrogen applied. Soil pH rose rapidly after urea application and thereafter fell slowly, whereas pH fell immediately after application of ‘Nitro-Chalk’. Neither dicyandiamide nor hydroquinone affected the pH changes after urea application. Overall, grain yields from urea were 90%, whereas those from urea plus hydroquinone were 97%, of those obtained from ‘Nitro-Chalk’. Dividing the spring dressings of urea-nitrogen increased yield in 1985 compared with a single dressing, but not in 1984. Yields from divided and single dressings of ‘Nitro-Chalk’ were similar. Oil and protein yields generally showed the same patterns of response to the fertilizer treatments as were shown by grain yields.