Seminars and Workshops Development and testing of environment friendly nanohybrid coatings for sustainable agriculture technologies

Topic of Research Seminar: Development and testing of environment friendly nanohybrid coatings for sustainable agriculture technologies 

Abstract: Poor nitrogen (N) use efficiency of conventional urea fertilizer affects overall agricultural productivity which leads to serious environmental and economic problems. In addition, high salinity soils limit zinc (Zn) availability. Low Zn use efficiency of synthetic salts minimized its applicability. Within the past two decades, nanotechnology has gained a lot of interest in the development of effective fertilizers in terms of nutrient use efficiency (NUE). In this perspective coating, conventional fertilizers with some suitable material enhance their effectiveness and reduce problems linked with it. In this work, a novel and innovative formulation of hybrid nano fertilizer has been prepared for the controlled and sustainable release of plant nutrients. Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs <50 nm) were incorporated into the biodegradable polymeric material (gelatin) solution and coated on urea using a fluidized bed coater. Laboratory testing revealed that nano Zn with gelatin significantly improved the fertilizer properties. Among all the formulations, GZnSNPs (1.5% gelatin+0.5% ZnO-NPs) showed the highest efficiency (37%), and crushing strength (12.56 N). The GZnSNPs showed a significant delay in N and Zn release relative to uncoated prill. A substantial increase in wheat grain yield (6500 kg/ha), N uptake (46.5 kg/ha) and Zn uptake (21.64 g/ha) were observed for fields amended with nanoparticles treatments. The composition of GZnSNPs was valuable and attractive by viewing the highest profitable return compared to the rest of the treatments. Therefore, the findings of current study recommend use of ZnO-NPs coated urea in the agricultural sector without any effects on yield and nutrient use efficiency.

Subject Field of Topic: Chemical Engineering

Name of Speaker: Bilal Beig

Professorial Rank of Speaker: PhD student

University Email of Speaker: bilal.phdstudent @scme.nust.edu.pk

Affiliation of Speaker: NUST School of Chemical and Materials Engineering (NUST-SCME)

Date and Venue: January 10, 2023 at 1400 hrs, Seminar Hall, School of Chemical and Materials Engineering (SCME), NUST Islamabad Campus