Soil-mimetic eco-friendly fertilizer gates: nanoclay-reinforced binary carbohydrates for improving crop efficiency†

Potassium plays an important role in crop physiology, hence, it is recommended as a basal macronutrient. It is highly mobile and leaches quickly to become phyto-unavailable; hence, for the first time, a nano material-assisted coating on muriate of potash (KCl), which serves 80% of potassium fertilizer needs, was attempted. A rotary drum coater was used to coat binary carbohydrates, namely, chitosan and lignin, with anionic clay as a reinforcement agent that favors stable coordination bonds. Thus, the coated fertilizer fulfills industrial requirements such as storage stability and resistance to abrasion. Finally, the coated fertilizer was able to improve wheat production efficiency to ∼17%. In the process of release function, clay stake extend the diffusion time while, recalcitrant lignin gives cation exchange capacity assisted nutrient feeding as well as laccase triggered slow release. The coating matrix improved the stability of lignin against laccase significantly to complement the slow release and efficiency.