While fertilizers provide essential nutrients, like nitrogen, to our food crops, they can also leach into water bodies and feed harmful algal blooms.
Researchers at the University of Florida are studying a possible solution: controlled-release and slow-release fertilizers.
Scientist and assistant professor Hardeep Singh is part of a team at the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences that reviewed existing literature on the enhanced efficiency fertilizers.
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The researchers determined that these products can help farmers maximize yields while also preventing nutrients, such as nitrates, from leaking into waterways through stormwater runoff.
"And if nitrate is leaking and going to our water bodies, it can create an algal bloom. And nobody wants to go to the water bodies with the algal bloom, right," Singh said.
Shortly after Hurricane Milton's record-breaking rainfall in October, a toxic red tide bloom stretched about 200 miles from Tampa Bay to Key West.
And multiple health alerts related to blue-green algae in freshwater lakes have been issued in recent months across the state.
Nutrient pollution doesn't cause algae blooms, but it does exacerbate them.
Because typical fertilizers deliver nutrients so quickly, nutrient usage relative to yield is low in plants — ranging from 10% to 55%, according to the UF review.
So, conventional fertilizers are unable to support the stages of plant development over time.
The enhanced-efficiency fertilizers have features like polymer coatings and microbial-induced nutrient release that limit water solubility and reduce losses.
UF researchers are testing how effective these are by burying them in soil with mesh bags alongside corn and cotton crops.
"And then we are pulling those bags at specific intervals," Singh said. "We are trying to see how much nitrogen is still there and how much nitrogen is being released."
Then they're comparing the fertilizer amounts to plant growth.
The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services is funding this study, and Singh expects to have some tangible results in a couple of years.
Singh also plans to conduct a cost analysis to get a better idea of how much more growers might have to spend on these fertilizers.
He estimates between 20% and 30% of Florida growers are already using some enhanced-efficiency fertilizers.
"Enhanced-efficiency fertilizer technology is not a one-size-fits-all solution, but it's an important tool in a broader nutrient management strategy," Singh said in a release.
"Long-term success depends on matching the right fertilizer to the crop, soil and climate conditions," Singh said.
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