Nitrogen additives: What is what, and do they work?

Abstract

<p>Increases in nitrogen prices and environmental pressures have caused many corn producers to reevaluate nitrogen (N) management to determine if they can improve use efficiency. One potential avenue of improving N use efficiency is to allow applied N the ability to avoid volatilization losses when utilizing urea-based fertilizers and to lengthen the amount of time ammonium is present since it is much less susceptible to loss than nitrate. This obviously means considering either a urease inhibitor or a nitrification inhibitor. The goal of this proceedings article is to discuss various urease and nitrification inhibitors, examine modes of action, and evaluate agronomic utility.</p>