Introduction to fertilizers

1. COURSE
Manures, Fertilizers and Soil
Fertility Management 3(2+1)
Fertilizers and their
classification
Dr Shakeel Mir (Asst Prof SKUAST-
Kashmir)

2. A fertilizer is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to
soil or to plant tissues to supply one or more plant nutrients essential to
the growth of plants.
The use of manures to fertilize soil is probably as old as the practice of
agriculture by humans. The first artificial fertilizer- Superphosphate was
synthesized by John Bennet Lawes in 1840.
Potash fertilizer was extracted from geological deposits found in France,
Germany, USA, Canada etc.
Up to early part of twentieth century, the major source of nitrogenous
fertilizers were saltpeter (sodium nitrate) and guano.
The problem of N supply was solved by Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch in
Germany before world war I.
The advent of chemical fertilizers marked a revolutionary change in
modern agriculture.
Dr Shakeel Mir (Asst Prof SKUAST-
Kashmir)

3. Types of mineral fertilizers
(according to different criteria)
Method of production
• natural (as found in nature or only slightly processed);
• synthetic (manufactured by industrial processes).
Number of nutrients
• single-nutrient or straight fertilizers (whether for major,
secondary or micro nutrients);
• multi-nutrient (multiple nutrient) or compound fertilizers,
with 2, 3 or more nutrients:
Type of combination
• mixed fertilizers, i.e. a physical mixture of two or more
single-nutrient or multi- nutrient fertilizers (for granular
products this may comprise a blend of separate granules of
the individual ingredients, or granules each containing these
ingredients);
• complex fertilizers, in which two or more of the nutrients
are chemically combined (e.g. nitrophosphate, ammonium
phosphates).
Dr Shakeel Mir (Asst Prof SKUAST-
Kashmir)

4. Physical condition
• solid (crystalline, powdered, prilled or granular) of various
size ranges;
• liquid (solutions and suspensions);
• gaseous (liquid under pressure, e.g. ammonia).
Mode of action
• quick-acting (water-soluble and immediately available);
• slow-acting (transformation into soluble form required).
Dr Shakeel Mir (Asst Prof SKUAST-
Kashmir)

5. Dr Shakeel Mir (Asst Prof SKUAST-
Kashmir)