Abstract
Abstract Plants utilize only up to 25% of the applied phosphatic
fertilizers and 75% of the applied phosphatic fertilizers become
unavailable due to two major reactions, the adsorption on mineral
surface and the precipitation reactions. More and more fertilizers have
to be applied exogenously. More energy is required for fertilizer
production and transportation by the factories which influence our
environment badly.The fixed fertilizers prevails in the environment,
causing ecosystem imbalances. More over, phosphatic fertilizers are
expensive than nitrogenous and potassic fertilizers, hence need to be
managed. There are different techniques to improve fertilizer
utilization by plants, however value addition of fertilizers such as
surface modifications of fertilizers proved to be more fruitful because
these manipulate the supply of nutrients with crop demand. These may
slow down, control or stabilize the release of nutrients from the
fertilizers by reducing the direct contact of the soil with fertilizer
particles. It may become a tool for sustainable production, minimizing
the remaining of synthetic chemicals in the environment, by more plants
utilization. This paper is an effort to highlight the production
processes, different coating materials used, how these value added
fertilizers release nutrients in distilled water and in soil and their
impact on crop. In the later part of this article, challenges for their
adoptions will be discussed . Keywords: Coated fertilizers; Fertilizer
use efficiency; Slow release fertilizers; Value addition. Alternate
Keywords: Phosphorus utilization enhancement; Phosphorus availability
approaches; Uptake techniques; Nutrient use efficiency