There are many types of new water-soluble fertilizers on the market, such as humic acid, amino acid and algin, etc. Not only farmers do not know the difference between them, but even many dealers and manufacturers cannot tell them apart.
In agriculture, the above three substances can be used as nutrient soil additives, rooting and root strengthening fertilizer additives, soil conditioners, plant growth regulators, foliar fertilizer compound agents, cold resistance agents, drought resistance agents, compound fertilizer enhancers, etc.
Humic acid fertilizers made by combining with nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and other elements have the functions of fertilizer enhancement, soil improvement, crop growth stimulation and agricultural product quality improvement.
Let’s talk about humic acid fertilizers first.
At present, there are more than 1,000 humic acid fertilizer production enterprises in China, which has become the world’s largest humic acid fertilizer producer.
Humic acid fertilizers are made from raw materials such as peat and lignite, and adopt different production methods to produce products containing a large amount of humic acid and nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and certain trace elements required for crop growth and development.
It is equivalent to an organic-inorganic compound fertilizer, which is a typical green and environmentally friendly fertilizer. It can improve soil, increase effective nutrients, and stimulate crop growth.
Functions and characteristics of humic acid
1. Synergistic effect on nitrogen fertilizer
Nitrogen fertilizers are mainly carbonate and urea. Ammonium nitrogen is unstable and very volatile. After mixing with humic acid fertilizers, humic acid contains functional groups such as carboxyl and phenolic carboxyl, which has strong ion exchange and adsorption capacity, which can reduce the loss of ammonium nitrogen.
2. Synergistic effect on phosphate fertilizer
When fast-acting phosphate fertilizer is applied to the soil, soluble phosphorus is easily fixed by the soil. After adding humic acid fertilizers, it can inhibit the soil from fixing water-soluble phosphorus, slow down the transformation of fast-acting phosphorus to slow-acting and ineffective states, and degraded nitrohumic acid increases the movement distance of phosphorus in the soil, which promotes the absorption of phosphorus by the root system.
3. Synergistic effect on potassium fertilizer
Humic acid contains functional groups that can absorb and store potassium ions, which can prevent it from being lost with water in sandy soil and leaching soil, and prevent the fixation of potassium in clay soil.
Some parts of humic acid are low-molecular humic acids such as fulvic acid, which have a dissolving effect on minerals such as potassium silicate and potassium feldspar, which can slowly decompose them, increase the release of potassium, and increase the content of quick-acting potassium.
4. Synergistic effect on trace fertilizer
There is a considerable amount of trace element reserves in the soil, but the effective part that can be absorbed by plants is too small. Humic acid can react with insoluble trace elements to form humic acid trace element complexes that are well soluble and easily absorbed by plants;
It is conducive to root absorption or leaf absorption, and promotes plants to transfer the absorbed trace elements from the roots to the aboveground parts, and diffuse from some leaves to other leaves.
5. Indirect effect on soil
Humic acid can also improve soil structure, prevent soil cracking and soil erosion. In terms of physics, it can increase soil water holding capacity and improve its drought resistance, while darkening the soil color, which is conducive to the absorption of solar energy;
In terms of chemistry, it has the functions of regulating the pH value of the soil, improving and optimizing the absorption of nutrients and water by plants, and acting as a natural chelating agent with metal ions under alkaline conditions to promote their root absorption.
Amino acid fertilizer
Amino acids are the main organic nitrogen compounds in the soil, accounting for 15% to 60% of the total nitrogen in the soil. Amino acids in the soil mainly come from microorganisms, plants and animals and their metabolites.
Amino acids are an important component of soil organic nitrogen and an important nutrient source for soil microorganisms. Soil microorganisms can use amino acids as precursors in the metabolic process to synthesize plant growth regulators through biological pathways, stimulate plant growth, and regulate plant physiological processes.
Amino acid fertilizers are mainly amino acid chelated multi-micro fertilizers, which are developed using the waste liquid after cystine is extracted by hair hydrolysis.
Amino acids can also be used to extract amino acids as chelating agents from animal hair, and then added with trace nutrients to form an organic multi-micronutrient fertilizer made through a certain chemical synthesis process.
When amino acids are used as fertilizers, they are mainly a supplementary source of organic nitrogen and a chelating agent for metal ions. Amino acids have the function of complexing (chelating) metal ions, and are easy to carry the trace elements (calcium, magnesium, silicon, sulfur, boron, manganese, zinc, iron, copper, molybdenum, selenium) required by plants into the plant body, improving the utilization of various nutrients by plants.
Functional characteristics of amino acid fertilizers
- The nutritional effect of mixed use of multiple amino acids is better. The fertilizer effect of most amino acids alone is lower than that of inorganic nitrogen fertilizers with the same nitrogen content. The fertilizer effect of mixed amino acids is higher than that of single amino acids with the same nitrogen content, and also higher than that of inorganic nitrogen fertilizers with the same nitrogen content.
- Fast fertilizer effect. The amino acids in oxy-acid organic fertilizers can be directly absorbed by various organs of plants, and obvious effects can be observed in a short period of time after use, while inorganic fertilizers and organic fertilizers need to be degraded and passively absorbed or osmotically absorbed under photosynthesis.
- Amino acids are promoters and catalysts for the synthesis of various enzymes in plants, and play an important role in plant metabolism.
- The application of amino acid chelated micro-fertilizers can easily carry the trace elements needed by plants into the plant body, improve the utilization rate of various nutrients by plants, significantly increase crop yields, and improve the quality of agricultural products.
Seaweed extract fertilizer
Seaweed extract is a substance extracted from seaweed through biotechnology. It is rich in plant growth regulators, cytokinin, gibberellins and other regulators, as well as plant active factors such as alginic acid, vitamins, oligosaccharides, as well as mineral elements, chelated metal ions and marine biological active substances.
Seaweed extracts are also rich in non-nitrogenous organic matter. The mineral elements and rich vitamins absorbed and enriched by seaweed from seawater, which are incomparable to terrestrial plants, such as potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc, etc., can be quickly absorbed and utilized by plants, stimulating or promoting plant growth and development.
Seaweed fertilizer is a kind of coarse powder, liquid or dehydrated dry powder made by extracting the essence of seaweed through special physiological and biochemical processes. It is rich in nutrients that are easily absorbed by crops in organic form and active substances that regulate plant growth. It is a new type of green and environmentally friendly fertilizer.
Features of seaweed extract fertilizer
- It can promote the rapid division and growth of plant cells.
- Increase the nutrients needed by plants and improve crop resistance.
- Promote root development, increase crop yield and improve the quality of agricultural products.
- Contains rich seaweed active substances and organic matter, which can activate beneficial soil bacteria and improve fertilizer utilization.
- Improve soil physical and chemical properties, break soil compaction, and improve soil fertility.
- Can be mixed with a variety of fertilizers to enhance fertilizer efficiency.
