In an industry where weather, markets and prices are out of your control, it is important to control what you can and be smart with your nitrogen investments. With fluctuating fertilizer costs, it is important to protect the investments you make. That is where nitrogen stabilizers come in.
The nitrogen stabilizer rundown
Nitrogen stabilizers are any substance or mixture of substances intended for preventing or hindering nitrogen losses through volatilization, denitrification, and leaching. They help you get the most value from the fertilizer applied to maintain and enhance your crops' health. Nitrogen stabilizers come in multiple forms, most commonly these include urease inhibitors and denitrification inhibitors. Urease inhibitors protect nitrogen above ground. N-(n-butyl) thiophosphoric triamide, commonly known as NBPT, is a form of a urease inhibitor that protects against nitrogen loss through volatilization. A denitrification inhibitor, or DCD, helps protect underground nitrogen in the soil from the Nitrosomonas bacteria breaking it down. Nitrosomonas bacteria breakdown leads to leaching and denitrification by turning nitrogen into an unstable nutrient source.
The use of nitrogen stabilizer is especially critical during these situations:
- When fertilizer is surface applied, especially to moist soil.
- Under high crop residue, such as reduced or no-till conditions.
- When warm temperatures, high soil pH, and other weather and field challenges lead to increased nitrogen loss at or near the soil surface
How CHS can help
To protect above-ground nitrogen from ammonia volatilization and below-ground nitrogen from denitrification and leaching, CHS agronomy offers its N-Edge portfolio of nitrogen stabilizer products, which includes N-Edge, N-Edge 2, N-Edge Soil and N-Edge Pro.
N-Edge Pro contains both NBPT and DCD, so it protects the nitrogen from all three forms of loss: volatilization, denitrification, and leaching. This provides a greater opportunity for healthy crops, all season long, thus leading to plants reaching their maximum yield potential.
Looking forward
Nitrogen stabilizers, are not going away anytime soon and will continue to be a staple in helping you protect your nitrogen investment and maximizing your crop yield.
For more information on nitrogen management, download our nitrogen guide. Talk to your local CHS agronomy retailer about N-Edge Pro and the full N-Edge portfolio.
