الملخص الإنجليزي
Abstract:
Urea is a crucial nutrient for plant growth, but because of its substantial losses due to
nitrification, ammonification, and subsurface leaching, there is currently a push to reduce these
losses. Urea is frequently uploaded and trapped in gelatin. In this research, the improvement of urea
uploading and encapsulation efficiency is investigated using wood ash made from plant biomass
(Pinus roxburghii). The 8 g w/v of gelatin was mixed with various concentrations of wood ash (from
4 to 16 g w/w), urea (from 4 to 24 g w/w), and glutaraldehyde (from 0.5 to 3 mL g−1) to prepare
various formulations of slow-release fertilizer (SRF). According to this study, adding wood ash to
gelatin increases its ability to upload and encapsulate urea. The urea on its surface and the metal in
wood ash both considerably contribute to the compositional alterations in gelatin in SRFs, which were
demonstrated by IR spectroscopy. Visualization from photographs revealed that the homogenous
dispersion of wood ash improved structural compatibility. The water content of the SRF formulation
showed that wood ash can reduce water absorption by changing how hydrophobic gelatin is. Wood
ash improves the gelatin’s ability to reduce the rapid release of urea over time, according to testing of
cumulative urea release from SRF. The optimal combinations for achieving the maximum 53.43% of
urea uploading were 2.44 g of urea, 2.47 mL of glutaraldehyde, and 1.50 g of wood ash, according to
the Box–Behnken model. The gelatin-based SRF that had been amended with wood ash was applied
to the Mentha spicata plant, and the plant’s healthy development and higher chlorophyll content
revealed its agronomic potential. This study has a significant contribution to the development of
an affordable and more effective wood ash-modified gelatin-based SRF.
