Temporal Recovery of Polymer-Coated Urea-N by Kentucky Bluegrass in the Field

Relative to soluble N sources, controlled release fertilizer (CRF) fosters consistent turfgrass growth response and improved canopy quality while reducing N loss as nitrate, ammonia, and/or N₂O from target systems. Commercial CRFs afford turfgrass managers greater operational efficiency and flexibility in nutrient management planning and compel the investigation of application rate thresholds to guide regional agencies tasked with their regulation. The experimental objective was to systematically evaluate, under an array of field conditions, Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.) vigor/yield, fertilizer N offtake, canopy density, and canopy color temporal response to a single application of granular N fertilizer made at practical rates. In May of 2014 and 2015, plots within a mature Kentucky bluegrass system were fertilized by conventional urea or Duration 45 polymer coated urea (PCU) at a N rate of 43.9 kg·ha⁻¹(0.9 lbs N·1000 ft⁻²); or PCU (Duration 90, Duration 120, or 43% N Polyon) at a N rate of 87.8 kg·ha⁻¹(1.8 lbs N·1000 ft⁻²). Resulting measures of the described dependent variables proved similar over both growing seasons and were highly dependent on the N rate and PCU attribute. Following 18-week evaluations, the average total percent fertilizer N recoveries from conventional urea, Duration 45, Duration 90, Duration 120, and Polyon (43% N) were 63%, 87%, 82%, 78%, and 77%, respectively. Temporal release among commercial PCU fertilizers indicates varying suitability by commodity and seasonal nutrient requirements. Hypothesis tests on experiment-end unaccounted fertilizer N totals show one 87.8 kg N·ha⁻¹application of the described 100% PCU fertilizer treatments poses no greater environmental risk than a 43.9 kg N·ha⁻¹application of conventional urea fertilizer.