Cumulative release characteristics of controlled-release nitrogen and potassium fertilizers and their effects on soil fertility, and cotton growth

To investigate the interacting effects of polymer coated urea (PCU) and polymer coated potassium chloride (PCPC) on cotton growth, an experiment was conducted with containerized plants in 2014 and 2015. There were two kinds of nitrogen fertilizer, PCU and urea, which were combined with PCPC at three application rates (40, 80 and 120 kg ha-1). The kinds of nitrogen fertilizer formed the main plot, while individual rates of PCPC were the subplots. The results suggested N and K release patterns for PCU and PCPC in the soil were closely matched to the N and K requirements by cotton. Soil inorganic nitrogen contents significantly increased by using PCU instead of urea, and the same trend was observed with soil available potassium contents, which also had increased rates. Meanwhile, the number of bolls and lint yields of cotton in the PCU treatments were 4.9-35.3% and 2.9-40.7% higher than from urea treatments. Lint yields also increased by 9.1-12.7% with PCPC80 and PCPC120 treatments compared with PCPC40 treatment at the same nitrogen type. Hence, application of PCU combined with 80 kg ha-1 of PCPC fertilizer on cotton increased the yields and fertilizer use efficiencies in addition to improving fiber quality and delaying leaf senescence.