Reduction of Ammonia Volatilization Loss from BRIS Soils Using Controlled Release Urea and Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME)

HALIMATUL SA’ADIAH ABDULLAH¹, KHAIRUN NAIM MULANA², MARDHATI HAZIRAH HASSAN³

¹PhD candidate /Department of Land Management, Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400, Serdang, Malaysia

²MSc. candidate / International Environmental and Agriculture Science, Graduate School of Agriculture, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Fuchu, 183-0054, Tokyo, Japan

³MSc. candidate /Department of Land Management, Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400, Serdang, Malaysia

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Abstract

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of POME application on reducing ammonia volatilization loss using formulated control release urea (CRU) fertilizers. Ammonia volatilization loss was measured using modified force-draft technique to evaluate its effect via application of palm oil mill effluent (POME). Three type of BRIS soils; Melawi, Rudua, and Rhu Tapai were used under controlled laboratory condition with soil moisture maintained at 40 %. Application of typical urea and three (3) types of formulated control release urea fertilizers; Meister-20, CR Duration type V, and CDU Uber-10 at the rate of 400 µg/g were used en masse. Whilst, the application of POME was set at 100 kg/ha of dried POME. Ammonia volatilization loss was recorded on daily basis for a period of two weeks. Results indicated that, the combination of POME and urea shows the best reduction of NH3 at 83.6 % compared to without POME inclusions. The CRU fertilizers and incorporation of soil with POME in general shows best effect in reducing NH3 loss.