Optimise NUE with Agrocote® Max

Introduction

ICL is a market leader in crop nutrition, producing Potash, Phosphate and Polysulphate™ based fertilisers known as the FertiliserpluS range. Our products are designed to improve soil and plant health, helping farmers increase productivity and quality in an efficient and sustainable way.

Our latest technology, Agrocote Nitrogen, fits this ethos.

Agrocote is part of our Controlled Release Fertiliser (CRF) range that includes Agroblen® and Agromaster® NPK grades. These products have dominated the horticultural industry for many years. Now, their benefits are available to UK and Irish agricultural markets.

What are controlled release fertilisers?

An advanced range of products that release nutrients over a specific timescale, in a controlled way. This ensures nutrient availability matches the crop’s requirements more effectively than standard fertilisers, leading to higher Nitrogen Use Efficiency (NUE) and reduced nutrient loss.

CRFs are temperature-sensitive. As soil temperature rises, cracks develop in the coating, drawing in water to dissolve the nutrients inside. The water then carries these out into the soil for the plant roots to take up. When soil temperature decreases, nutrient release slows down.

Benefits of CRF

By providing consistent and predictable nutrient release, CRFs bring a range of benefits to all crops. Trials conducted with root vegetable, brassica, and allium growers show yield uplifts from 8% to 16% verses standard farm practice.

Trial results

As CRFs match the growth needs of a plant, nutrient uptake is fully optimised by the crop. In comparison to conventional nitrogen fertilisers which average around 60% NUE, in a recent UK winter wheat trial Agrocote Max achieved an NUE of 97%.

Below are results from an Agrocote Max trial on a UK broccoli crop versus ammonium nitrate.