A simple membrane-based approach for assessing the diffusion kinetics of mineral foliar fertilizersABSTRACT
The present work explores a practical strategy for real-time assessment of foliar-based mineral fertilizers diffusion. Thereby, a dialysis tubing membrane was employed as a leaf cell-proxy for tracing the release of three commercial foliar fertilizer formulations and their correspondent primary compounds, MnCO3, Mg(OH)2, and Cu2O at the field-recommended concentration, by simply measuring changes on conductivity and pH during 96 h. It enabled either modulating fertilizer diffusion kinetics, as well as comparing the commercial formulations to its primary compound ones. Hence, the proposed approach stands out as a fast and effective tool for addressing relevant information about the performance of foliar fertilizer formulation, one of the bottlenecks of programs developing new fertilizer formulations.
Key words foliar fertilizer; diffusion kinetics; dialysis tubing; membrane
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Note. The elemental content on both commercial compounds and the corresponding original molecule were the same. Ultrapure water (ρ < 18.18 MΩ·cm–1) was used as a control, and the values were not cumulative. The arrow denotes the water exchange in the membrane-containing beakers 40 h past the beginning of the experiment. The values account for the average value of three (n = 3) of independent replicates, and the error bars indicate the standard deviation.
Note. Before (‘) and after (“) water exchange of the membrane-containing beakers. The fitted curves were obtained using the function described in Eq. 1, and parameters are described. The values account for the average value of three (n = 3) of independent replicates, and the error bars indicate the standard deviation.
Note. The average and coefficient of variation for both products and primary materials are described. Ultrapure water (ρ < 18.18 MΩ·cm–1) was used as the control (a). The values account for the average value of three (n = 3) of independent replicates, and the error bars indicate the standard deviation.