Functions of Bio Fulvic Acid (III): Improving Fertilizer Efficiency & Saving Cost

Bio fulvic acid can greatly improve the efficiency of fertilizers. The common fertilizers in the market are nitrogen fertilizers, phosphorus fertilizers, potassium fertilizers and trace element fertilizers. Bio fulvic acid can be used as a slow-release agent for nitrogen fertilizers, an activating agent for phosphorus fertilizers, a quick-acting agent for potassium fertilizers and a chelating agent for trace element fertilizers.

1. Slow-release agent for nitrogen fertilizers
Bio fulvic acid inhibits the urea-decomposing enzymes and nitrate-degrading enzymes in the soil. As we all know, compound fertilizers use urea as their chief source of nitrogen element. Urea is amide nitrogen. After being applied to the soil, it must be converted into ammonium nitrogen or nitrate nitrogen under the action of urease before it can be absorbed and utilized by crops. Bio fulvic acid inhibits urease as nitrification enzyme from functioning, thereby increasing the utilization of amide nitrogen. The inhibition effect of mineral potassium fulvate on these two kinds of enzymes can last for about 100 days. In the growing stage of crops, bio fulvic acid can inhibit the decomposition of urea, thereby reducing the volatilization of urea. In that stage, the crops mainly rely on amide nitrogen. This proves that bio fulvic acid has a slow-release effect. In the middle and late stages of crop growth, as bio fulvic acid has been gradually been absorbed by crops, its inhibitory effect on urease is weakened, and urea release is gradually increased to meet the large demand for nitrogen in the period of vigorous crop growth. In addition, bio fulvic acid can also inhibit the activity of nitrification enzyme, increase the utilization of urea and improve the stability of ammonia.

2. Activating agent for phosphorusfertilizers
The direct cause of why bio fulvic acid can improve the efficiency of phosphorus fertilizers is that bio fulvic acid mingles with phosphorus fertilizers and forms complexes (such as iron fulvate, aluminum fulvate and phosphorus fulvate), which is composed of bio fulvic acid, metal and phosphates. After such complexes are formed, the fixation of phosphorus in the soil can be prevented and more phosphorus in the soil can be easily absorbed by crops, thereby increasing the utilization rate (from 10%-20% to 28%-39%) of phosphorus fertilizers. The phosphorous fertilizers applied to soil are generally monoammonium phosphate and diammonium phosphate, which are easily fixed in the soil and thus have a low utilization rate. After adding bio fulvic acid to them, a stable ternary structure composed of such elements as phosphorus, iron, calcium, magnesium and aluminum is formed, thereby increasing the utilization of phosphorus. Related studies have shown that the combination of mineral potassium fulvate and phosphorus fertilizer increases the efficiency of phosphorus element by 14.6% when compared with the application of phosphorus fertilizer alone. And the inhibition rate on phosphorus fixation is increased by 8.4 times.

3. Quick-acting agent for potassium fertilizers
Bio fulvic acid can promote the release of insoluble potassium, increase the release of available potassium in the soil (especially water-soluble potassium) and reduce the fixation of potassium fertilizer. When humic acid is combined with potassium ions, potassium that is solidified in the soil is released and thus can be absorbed and utilized by the crops, thereby greatly improving the utilization of potassium and reducing potassium loss caused by water drainage or soil fixation.

4. Chelating agent for trace element fertilizers
At present, trace element fertilizers in the market mainly include series of sulfates (zinc sulfate, iron sulfate, copper sulfate, etc.) and ketoacids. But after such trace element fertilizers are applied to the soil, they are easily solidified by the soil, turn from water-soluble to insoluble and become difficult to be absorbed and utilized by crops, thus losing much of their fertility. A set of comparative experiments have been done on zinc sulphate and zinc fulvate. The zinc content in zinc sulphate is about 30% whereas the zinc content in zinc fulvate is about 5%. The zinc content in plants is measured by tracking measurement. The result shows that the content of zinc fulvate in the measured crops is 30% higher than zinc sulfate content, which indicates why bio fulvic acid increases the utilization rate of trace element fertilizers. Since bio fulvic acid has a large number of active groups (carboxyl, phenylhydroxyl, methoxy) that can chelate with trace elements in the soil and turn the trace elements solidified by the soil to be elements that can be absorbed and utilized by the soil, thereby greatly improving the utilization of trace elements. In addition, it was found in the experiments that mineral potassium fulvate can chelate with iron, zinc and other trace elements in the soil and form chelates that are highly water-soluble and easily absorbed by crops. Such chelates are easy for crop roots as well leaf surface to absorb and can promote the movement of trace elements from root to other crop parts above ground. Among them, the amount of iron fulvate entering those parts from the root is about 32% more than ferrous sulfate does. And the amount of iron fulvate moving to leaves is also twice the amount of ferrous sulfate. The chlorophyll content is increased by about 15% to 45%, which effectively solves the problem of yellow-leaf disease caused by iron deficiency. Its effect is similar to that of organic iron fertilizers, but its cost is much lower.