MULTIWALLED CARBON NANOTUBES ENHANCING NITROGEN UPTAKE AND USE EFFICIENCY OF UREA FERTLIZER BY PADDY

Efficient use of urea fertilizer (UF) as important nitrogen (N) source in the world's rice production has been a concern for the economic sustainability of cropping systems. The use of carbon-based materials to enhance UF efficiency still facing a great challenge. Hence, N Nano-carrier is developed based on functionalized multiwall carbon nanotubes (f-MWCNTs) grafted with UF to produce urea-multiwall carbon nanotubes (UF-MWCNTs) for enhancing the nitrogen uptake (NU) and use efficiency (NUE). The grafted N was found efficiently absorbed and utilized by rice, and overcome the N propensity for loss from soil‐plant systems when UF-MWCNTs are applied. The UF-MWCNTs shown tremendous NUE up to 96% and NU at 1180mg/pot. The chemical changes were monitored by Raman spectroscopy. Hence, UF-MWCNTs provides a promising strategy in enhancing plant nutrition for rice.