A pot culture experiment was conducted to assess the relative performance of fertilizer composites developed using conventional fertilizers and zeolite based nano formulations in the recommended proportions of N, P, K, S, Zn, B and Mo using greengram as test crop. The plants were fertilized with 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100 % of the conventional or nano-fertilizer formulations. Before fortification the Zeolite were subjected to size reduction and modified by using hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide, a cationic surfactant, to modify its surface to increase its capacity to retain anions. During the experiment soil samples were collected and assessed for its nutrient status besides biochemical properties and microbial population. The result shows that the physical and chemical properties of conventional fertilizer applied and nano-fertilizer formulation applied soils were significantly differs in terms of bulk density, particle density, porosity, pH, EC and CEC. The biochemical properties such as water soluble carbon and biomass carbon then biological properties like microbial populations in soils are measured in end of the experiment shows the significant response to added conventional or nano-fertilizer. Pot culture study also confirms that the soil available nutrients responded well for nano-zeolite. Higher biological activities in nano-fertilizer fertilized soil reached within 25 or 50% of the nanofertilizer in comparison to conventional fertilizer.
Nano-fertilizer, Soil fertility, Zeolite, Fortification
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