Response of spring wheat to boron-coated urea and its effect on nitrogen use efficiency

ABSTRACT

A field study was conducted at the ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, to study the response of spring wheat to boron applied as boron-coated urea (BCU) and the effect of boron (B) coating on the use efficiency of applied fertilizer urea nitrogen. The BCU (0.5% B) significantlyrecorded the highest increase in leaf area index (30.2%), spike length (12.5%), number of spikes (10.9%), filled grains (15.7%) and grain weight (16.3%) per spike in spring wheat than uncoated prilled urea (PU). Furthermore, the application of 0.5% BCU enhanced the grain and straw yields of spring wheat by 11% and 10.6% over uncoated PU. The BCU (0.5% B) also significantly increased the N concentration and N uptake both in wheat grain and straw. The BCU (0.5% B) recorded 24.8% higher recovery efficiency of applied nitrogen and an increase of 3.6 kg grain kg⁻¹ N applied in agronomic efficiency compared to uncoated PU. The net returns (USD915.1 ha⁻¹) and benefit:cost ratio (1.40) werealso the highest with 0.5% BCU, significantly higher than uncoated PU. Therefore, 0.5% boron coating onto PU is recommended for increased productivity and enhanced efficiency of applied fertilizer nitrogen for spring wheat in Indo-Gangetic plains of India.

KEYWORDS:

• boron
• boron-coated urea
• economics
• nitrogen fertilizer
• spring wheat

Acknowledgments

The authors sincerely thank Director, Joint Director (Research) and Head of the Division of Agronomy, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India, for their timely advice, support and also facilities provided in undertaking this study.

Funding

The authors duly acknowledge the partial financial support received to conduct this research from the Matix Fertilisers and Chemicals Limited (MFCL), Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.