A BRIEF REVIEW ON MATERIALS USED IN CONTROLLED-RELEASE FERTILISER FORMULATIONS

Azlan Kamari

Abstract

The excessive use of fertiliser and uncontrolled-release of nutrient into soil environment have caused a significant eutrophication issue and groundwater contamination. These scenarios have necessitated the development of eco-friendly controlled-release fertilisers (CRF5) for agricultural purposes. In recent years. several materials have been developed and tested to control the release of nutrients particularly in agricultural soils. Although, a number of controlled -release fertilisers have shown a great potential to sustain nutrients release, their performance is greatly influenced by the type of soil, plant species and climate. This review focuses on the development of controlled -release fertilisers using different starting materials or precursors. The technique of synthesis, the rate of nutrients release. the characteristics and drawbacks of controlled -release fertilisers developed have also been highlighted in this review. This review is beneficial to scientists in the field of food science, especially innovative agrochemical formulations to improve food production as well as to mitigate the nutrients leaching to groundwater.

References

[1] Ye, H.M., Li, H.F., Wang, C.S., Yang, J., Huang, G., Meng, X. and Zhou, Q. (2020). Degradable polyester/urea inclusion complex applied as a facile and environment-friendly strategy for slow-release fertilizer: Performance and mecha-nism. Chem. Eng. J. 381, 122704.

[2] Hall, C., Dawson, T.P., Macdiarmid, J.I., Mat-thews, R.B. and Smith, P. (2017). The impact of population growth and climate change on food security in Africa: looking ahead to 2050. Int. J. Agr. Sustain. 15(2), 124-135.

[3] United Nations (UN). (2019). Growing at a slower pace, world population is expected to reach 9.7 billion in 2050 and could peak at nearly 11 billion around 2100. https://www.un.org/development/desa/en/news/ population/world-population-prospects-2019.html (22 March 2021).

4] Hunter, M.C., Smith, R.G., Schipanski, M.E., Atwood, L.W. and Mortensen, D.A. (2017). Ag-riculture in 2050: Recalibrating targets for sus-tainable intensification. BioScience. 67(4), 386-391.

[5] Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. (2002). World Agriculture: To-wards 2015/2030. Summary Report. Rome, It-aly.

[6] Sharma, A., Kumar, V., Shahzad, B., Tanveer, M., Sidhu, G.P.S., Handa, N., Kohli, S.K., Yadav, P., Bali, A.S., Parihar, R.D., Owias Iqbal Dar, O.I., Singh, K., Shivam Jasrotia, S.J., Bakshi, P.M., Ramakrishnan, M., Sandeep Kumar, S., Bhardwar, R. and Thukral, A.K. (2019). World-wide pesticide usage and its impacts on ecosys-tem. SN Appl. Sci. 1, 1446.