Nitrogen-retaining fertiliser to shake up market
Farmers have long wrestled with the decision to opt for urea with 46% nitrogen or CAN with 27%. This spring, CAN cost about 1.11c/kg of N, while urea cost 0.87c/kg.
However, nitrogen in urea fertiliser is lost by volatilisation to the air (conversion to ammonia gas).
This takes place on the soil surface after urea fertiliser is applied, and is mainly a problem when soils are dry and the soil pH is high.
Teagasc advisors recommend that urea applications be completed by about mid-April, depending on weather conditions, but say urea can be suitable for the first N application to winter wheat crops.
Urea is harder to spread accurately at widths over 18m; however, there are savings in time for filling and spreading, and in fuel consumption and packaging.
According to Teagasc, urea is not used as efficiently as CAN by cereal crops, with up to 20% N losses recorded due to volatilisation. Now, a technology to reduce N volatilisation in urea has arrived in Ireland, having been available in some other countries since the late 1990s.
This Agrotain technology is used in Koch Advanced Nitrogen, now marketed in Ireland by J&H Bunn Ltd.
KaN is a granular urea coated with a product called Agrotain, which controls nitrogen loss by blocking the urease enzyme.
KaN did as well as ammonium nitrate (AN) in recent British trials, in terms of delivering late season grain protein levels in winter wheat.
Urea alone resulted in a lower grain protein, while KaN produced an equivalent grain protein level to AN.
J&H Bunn Ltd is a subsidiary of Koch Fertilizer, LLC, which manufactures and distributes fertilisers across global markets. Koch Advanced Nitrogen is produced at the company’s Bristol factory, which was commissioned in October, 2010.
A number of Irish distributors are taking on their Koch Advanced Nitrogen, but information on its pricing in Ireland is not yet available.
