Benefits of Neem Coated Urea
Authors: Seema, Sunita Yadav, Rekha Sodani

Neem coated urea is the urea which is coated with neem seed oil. Our government give subsidy on urea which is used for the agriculture uses. But the company which produces urea are sell the urea to chemical company (which use urea in manufacturing of products) on the name of agriculture uses for get more subsidy. It has been scientifically established that Neem oil serves as an effective inhibitor if coated on Urea. Thus, the benefits are as follows: Neem coating leads to more gradual release of urea, helping plants gain more nutrient and resulting in higher yields. Lower underground water contamination due to leaching of urea. Urea is widely used as a nitrogen fertilizer. Its high solubility in water makes it useful for liquid application, and it has a much lower risk of causing fertilizer burn than other chemicals such as calcium cyanide or ammonium nitrate. However, the risk of fertilizer burn with urea can be unacceptably high in some situations, such as higher temperatures. The high water-solubility of urea can be disadvantageous in some cases as well.

One particular technique to mitigate these disadvantages has been to encapsulate prills of urea with less-soluble chemicals. These coatings permit the gradual release of urea in a controlled fashion, allowing for less-frequent applications. National Fertilizers Limited (NFL), one of the premier manufacturers of nitrogenous fertilisers in the country, has developed a process for production of Neem-coated urea on commercial scale. The extensive laboratory and field studies have shown that the new product produced with a thin film of Neem oil-water emulsion of specified concentration would increase the shelf life of product. It will reduce caking during storage and also improve availability of nitrogen to crops at the time of growth. It will also result in better crop yield”. The price of Neem-coated urea will be marginally higher than the cost of normal urea. The results obtained under the general parameters have shown an increase in crop yield and efficient pest control management with an average saving.

Benefits:

1) Slow down the process of nitrification of urea
2) Enhance the yield
3) Decrease urea requirement, hence save money

The nitrogen (N) fertilizer-use efficiency (20"50%) is low in rice fields in India. The Neem-oil coated urea can increase N-use efficiency in lowland rice, but the desirable thickness of Neem-oil coating onto urea is not known yet. can be enumerated as follows:

1) Saving of 10% of the losses of urea would amount to 2 million tons of urea or a reduction in subsidy component to the tune of 1,700 crores per annum (considering total subsidy on urea to be 18,000 crores per annum)

2) Proportional saving in the consumption of naphtha or natural gas

3) Increased crop yields due to better nitrogen utilization

4) Reduction in environmental pollution of ground water due to leaching of nitrates and gaseous emissions

5) Opportunity for entrepreneurs to commercialize local Neem

6) Resources and Development of Small Scale Industries in rural areas.


About Author / Additional Info:
I am currently pursuing ph.D in Soil Science and agril. Chemistry from Banaras Hindu University