Optimizing the effectiveness of a novel urease inhibitor to reduce ammonia volatilization losses from urea, and increase nitrogen uptake and crop yield

本研究的总体目标是通过优化一种新型脲酶抑制剂的有效性来减少尿素基氮肥的氨挥发损失。Active Agriproducts （AAP）正在开发一种新型脲酶抑制剂（ARM-U），考虑到现有产品的一些弱点。该公司已经评估了ARM-U减少温室中尿素基肥料氨挥发的功效。结果表明：施氮7 d后，尿素中24%的氮素和UAN（28-0-0）中5%的氮素以氨态损失，而ARM-U处理的尿素和UAN中氮素损失不足1%。初步研究表明，ARM-U在减少尿素基肥料氨挥发方面与两种商用脲酶抑制剂一样有效。该公司旨在通过减少其活性成分NBPT的含量来改善产品，同时提高NBPT的功效。为了实现这一目标，需要进行实地规模的研究，比较不同比例的ARM-U在防止尿素氨挥发方面的有效性。我们也不知道氨挥发的减少是否会转化为氮吸收的增加和作物产量的增加。采用的实验技术是装有酸浸泡沫盘的开放静态圆柱形室法。这将用于捕获氨气体排放的地块上播种小麦，尿素已施用不同比例的脲酶抑制剂。本研究的短期目标包括：1)确定ARM-U在减少挥发损失和减少NBPT含量之间取得平衡的最佳配比。2）

The overall objective of this study is to reduce ammonia volatilization losses from urea-based nitrogen (N) fertilizers by optimizing the effectiveness of a novel urease inhibitor. Active Agriproducts (AAP) is in the process of developing a novel urease inhibitor (ARM-U) taking into consideration some of the weaknesses of existing products. The company has evaluated the efficacy of ARM-U to reduce ammonia volatilization from urea-based fertilizers in the greenhouse. The results showed that 24% of the applied N in the urea and 5% of the applied N in UAN (28-0-0) was lost as ammonia 7 days after application, while less than 1% N was lost in the urea and UAN treated with ARM-U. This preliminary study showed that ARM-U was as effective as two commercial urease inhibitors in reducing ammonia volatilization from urea-based fertilizers. The company aims to improve the product by reducing the content of its active ingredient, NBPT, while enhancing the efficacy of NBPT. To achieve this, field scale studies comparing the effectiveness of different rates of ARM-U in preventing ammonia volatilization from urea are needed. We also do not know if the decrease in ammonia volatilization will translate into increased N uptake and increased crop yield. The experimental technique to be used is the open static cylindrical chambers method fitted with acid soaked foam discs. This will be used to trap ammonia gas emission on plots seeded to wheat to which urea has been applied with varying rates of urease inhibitor. Short term objectives of this study include: 1) Determine the optimal rate of ARM-U that strikes a balance between its efficacy in reducing volatilization losses and minimizing its NBPT content. 2)